A Perspective On Chinese Glass In Australian Public Collections

This short paper is not a scientific study nor is it an art historical account of specific museum exhibits. Rather, it takes the modest collections of Chinese glass held in two major museums in Australia, as the basis for a wide ranging introduction to two art and applied-art collections that may be unfamiliar to delegates at the XVII International Congress on Glass. Each collection, in its way, has exercised a considerable influence over the cultural life of Australia's two most populous and widely-known cities - Melbourne and Sydney. The two museums in question collect material culture of a manifestly diverse nature. Both deal with Eastern as well as Western culture and both address historical as well as contemporary phenomena.