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Upcoming Events
Stay up to date on Andrew’s latest events
Past Events
International Chinese snuff bottle society - Annual Convention
Portuguese links to Asia and China
Museu do Oriente, Lisbon, Portugal
October, 2023
International Chinese snuff bottle society (Zoom)
The Dragon Keeper: Heshen and Power Collecting in Late Qianlong-Era Qing China".
Click here to peruse the presentation.
January, 2023
International Chinese snuff bottle society (Zoom)
"Jingdezhen Stories: Molded Porcelain Snuff Bottles and the Tales They Tell"
To be presented prior to the Annual Meeting of the Society on May 15, 2022 (private event)
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Chatham Historical Society - Tuesday Talks at the atwood (ZOOM)
"Sailing to Cathay: Maritime Trade Routes to Asia Before and After the Arrival of the Europeans at the Turn of the Sixteenth Century."
October, 2021
Andrew Singer’s lecture “Sailing to Cathay” explores the vibrant maritime trade routes that linked Europe and Asia before and after the Europeans arrived directly on Asian shores at the turn of the sixteenth century. The Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and the South China Sea were the highways of the Ancient World, carrying commodities, art, ideas, people and religion in both directions. On the China side, the Chinese overseas maritime tradition was already more than 1,500 years old when Vasco de Gamma showed up on the West Coast of India in 1498. Chinese porcelains, Southeast Asian aromatics, and Indian pepper — amongst so much more — were the stock and trade. Maritime trade brought Asia to Europe and Europe to Asia with lasting influences on each. The legacy of the Ancient Maritime trade routes remains alive today, and is a story worthy of our time.
Chinese American Museum of Chicago - Raymond B. & Jean T. Lee Center (ZOOM)
"Sailing to Cathay: Maritime Trade Routes to Asia Before and After the Arrival of the Europeans at the Turn of the Sixteenth Century."
August, 2021
This lecture explores the vibrant maritime trade routes that existed in the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, and South China Sea before and after the arrival of the Europeans in Asia at the turn of the sixteenth century. Maritime trade routes were the global highways of the ancient world carrying commodities, art, ideas, people, and religion between Europe and Asia, with significant societal impacts felt at both ends.
Asian Arts Council of the San Diego Museum of Art (ZOOM)
"Sailing to Cathay: Maritime Trade Routes to Asia Before and After the Arrival of the Europeans at the Turn of the Sixteenth Century."
February, 2021
“Sailing to Cathay” explores the vibrant maritime trade routes that existed in what are now known as the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, and South China Sea before and after the arrival of Europeans in Asia at the turn of the sixteenth century. Maritime trade routes were the ancient highways carrying commodities, art, ideas, people, and religion between Europe and Asia, with an impact felt at both ends. By the middle of the seventeenth century, Chinese porcelain, lacquer, textiles, tea, and more were common exports making their way to the markets of Europe..
International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society Annual Convention (ZOOM)
"Sailing to Cathay: Maritime Trade Routes to Asia Before and After the Arrival of the Europeans at the Turn of the Sixteenth Century."
November, 2020
Active trade routes ran between Asia, the Middle East, and Africa for centuries before the Portuguese, the first Europeans to make it, arrived on Asian shores. One reason for the delay was that for so long many Europeans believed that there was no sea route around Africa because it connected by land to Asia. Spices, aromatic woods, porcelains, silk, information, and more were big commodities transiting the oceans. China was an active participant in this, and evidence of Europe's impact on China and China's impact on Europe is abundant, including in Chinese snuff bottles. It was a cutthroat, dangerous time to voyage the seas, but the lure of profits and conquest drove the European powers to find a way to get there. History has not been the same since.
All are welcome to attend one or more of the four days of lectures. The registration fee is tax deductible.
Guild Speaker Series at Cape Cod Museum of Art
The Qianlong Emperor's Obsession: Creating Art in the Qing Dynasty
Imperial Workshops
January, 2020
The fourth emperor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Hongli, known as the Qianlong Emperor, was a linguist, a prolific poet, and an avid collector and commissioner of art and knowledge. He was a great patron of Chinese painting, porcelain, jade, glass, enamel, silk, and more. Much of this eighteen-century art was created by legions of artisans in almost three dozen Imperial Workshops, first established in Beijing's Forbidden City by his grandfather, the Kangxi Emperor, more than a century before.
Learn more about the Qianlong Emperor's art obsession, the Imperial Workshops, and eighteenth-century China in this talk.
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