Hollywood Road in Hong Kong is a well-known destination for antique-hunters, especially antique Chinese furniture. In the 1980s and 1990s, this was the spot for anyone looking to buy a Ming dynasty southern official's chair, or a mid-Qing kang table made of the finest zitan. It is fitting then, that Liang Yi Museum – a private museum that houses not one, but four, of the world's finest collections of antiques - opened on 181 Hollywood Road in 2014.

 

The four-storey museum is home to one of the world's largest and best-curated collections of Chinese antique furniture, made of the treasured materials huanghuali and zitan, from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Started in the 1980s with many of the earlier pieces purchased right here on Hollywood Road, the collection has grown to almost 400 pieces three decades later. Selected pieces have been exhibited in other museums, primarily the National Museum of History in Taiwan. With the opening of the Liang Yi Museum, this magnificent trove of Chinese antique furniture will return home and be shown in rotating exhibitions, all curated to highlight the many facets and delights of this bygone furniture-making tradition.

 

Like Hong Kong itself, Liang Yi Museum is a blend of East and West. For those interested in Chinese antiques, the furniture will enthrall. However, for those curious about European history, the Liang Yi Museum also houses the world's premier collection of bejewelled clutches, compacts and powder boxes. Made in the finest design houses such as Cartier, Boucheron and Van Cleef & Arpels, these nécessaires and minaudières, glittering with precious stones and showing exquisitely detailed craftsmanship, were once a staple of every lady's evening wear. With over 800 examples from the late 1880's through to the 1960's, this dazzling collection provides an elegant peek at a bygone era and has been lent out to other museums in the past, including the Palace Museum in Beijing and Goldsmiths Hall in London, but will finally have their permanent home here at the Liang Yi Museum.