Eight-character Calligraphic Couplet in Clerical Script

This collection once belonged to Mr. Wang Lieh Hsien. Born in 1913 in Shanghai, Wang Lieh Hsien, a businessman, immersed himself amongst the literary and artistic circles of Shanghai until his emigration to Singapore in the early 1950s.

He was passionate about works by masters from the Shanghai Art School, and a decade later, his passion would draw him to return to China again. He was hired by Wing On Cheung, a well-known metal enterprise which had been running an antique business on the side since 1940s, and helped to build a new branch of business dedicated to Chinese art and antiquities in 1967 on its South Bridge Road premises in Singapore.

From the late 1960s till 1990s, he visited Shanghai frequently to collect Chinese fine works of art, bringing them to Singapore and sharing these with friends. In the 1980s, he was one of the very few to organise exhibitions in the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry Exhibition Hall, displaying fine Chinese paintings, calligraphy and works of art.

During the 1960s till the early 1980s, the overseas Chinese in Singapore had very little exposure to the finer aspects of Chinese art and culture. Wang was one of the very few pioneers who introduced the finer works of Chinese art to Singapore; it was his passion for fine arts that motivated him to take risks in visiting China during the tumultuous Cultural Revolution period and its aftermath. Through his personal ways, he greatly advanced the interests in Chinese culture amongst the local population in Singapore during those early days when Singapore had just gained its independence.