Collectors Meeting Bath, England Summer 2019

Early evening tour of the Roman Baths

Then at 10 am on Saturday 6th July we visited the Museum of East Asian Art. The collection is housed in a restored Georgian townhouse, and opened in 1993. Most of the Museum’s objects are from the collection of Brian McElney, a retired solicitor who practised in Hong Kong for over 35 years. It consists of nearly 2,000 sets of objects from East and South East Asia. The collection of Chinese art is particularly comprehensive, spanning in date from 5,000 BC to the present and covering ceramics, jades, bronzes and much more. Some of the Chinese bamboo and wood carvings are among the finest found in European collection

We were invited to examine the snuff bottles in the collection, guided by Brian McElney. We handled over 30 bottles, including some spectacular jade examples with Qianlong Imperial poems. After our visit we had a good lunch at the Circus restaurant nearby . Our next meeting will be on December 12th when we look at the glass snuff bottles in the collection at the British Museum. 

Kind regards,
Susan Page

Brian McElney and collectors with some of his bottles.

A selection of bottles on display at the museum.