FREE admission. Seats are granted on a first-come-first-served basis.
Please pre-register online: https://hkbookfair.hktdc.com/en/Events/Event-Schedule.html
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Book presentation: Painter and Patron: Illustrations of the Maritime Silk Road in 16th century Códice Casanatense
[Language: English]
Part of the English and Foreign Reading Series Seminar, organised during the Book Fair by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC).
Speakers:
Co-authors: Peter Gordon (US) and Juan José Morales (Spain)
About the book:
Among the thousands of centuries-old books in Rome’s famed Biblioteca Casanatense is an album of 76 striking watercolours. Painted by an Indian painter around 1540 in Goa for an unknown Portuguese patron, the Códice Casanatense contains illustrations of daily scenes, professions and religious ceremonies, as well as the peoples of what is now known as the Maritime Silk Road.
Painter & Patron is the first English-language book dedicated to this remarkable and unique document. Hidden within are hints to a personal story: a marriage between a former Portuguese soldier and a local woman, a man who rose to become an affluent merchant with connections from Africa to China. Including dozens of these intriguing illustrations, the presentation introduces the Codex and opens the door on the fascinating world of Asia in the 16th century, when Europe and Asia were first in extended contact.
Speakers Profile:
Peter Gordon and Juan José Morales are co-authors of The Silver Way: China, Spanish America and the Birth of Globalisation, 1565–1815 (Penguin 2017).
Peter Gordon is editor of the Asian Review of Books and has been active in Hong Kong book and literary circles for 20 years. He has been named a “Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy”.
Juan José Morales is an entrepreneur and historian. A former President of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, he has served on the board of several cultural societies, including The Oriental Ceramics Society of Hong Kong and Musica Viva.
Date: 15 July 2021 (Thu)
Time: 6:00pm-7:30pm
Where: Meeting Room S222-223, Hong Kong Book Fair, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre
Attendees will have a chance to receive a complimentary copy of the book at the Q&A Session; offer valid while stocks last.