HENRIETTA TSUI-LEUNG
GALLERIST
My mother was my biggest inspiration. She was a super-creative person and, growing up, we used to create things together, from lanterns for the festive season to Easter eggs – and so on. She also encouraged me to learn French, which I did and am still fluent in to this day.
Sadly, when I was 16 she passed away from cancer, and it was a very difficult time for me because I was so close to her. But even though I was young, a lot of the things that she did, or told me, remain with me until this day.
She loved collecting – jewellery, porcelain dolls and ceramics – so the art of collecting was instilled in me at a young age. She had an eye for jade pieces, which she passed down to me. I don’t wear them often, but there’s a jadeite pendant with diamonds that my parents gave me as a child, which I’m thinking of passing down to my 12-year-old daughter. My mother also had a jade butterfly, which I wore on my wedding day with my qun kwa, and it kept her memory with me.
Because of my mother, I’ve always loved art and I took a lot of courses, from Chinese painting to oil painting. My mom loved art but at the same time she was savvy with numbers and so that’s also influenced me as a businesswoman. I want people to understand that women have the right to have fruitful careers too. This is something I’ll always fight for – for myself, for my daughter and my friends.
When you collect and source art, you have to study. Whenever people ask me about starting their own business, I always encourage them to continue their education. I pursued my PhD in China when my twins were only two years old, because I wanted to become an expert in ink. Education is important and so is mentorship. I remember watching my mother teach my brothers about buying stocks. So when I was young, I actively sought mentors too. I contacted Uli Sigg and asked if I could visit him. I took one of my artists from London to Switzerland to meet him and he brought us to a really nice place in the mountains for lunch. Now we’re good friends and he comes to meet me at my gallery whenever he’s in town.
When it comes to jewellery, I studied a book on Cartier. With jewellery, you can certainly look at the cut, the colour, how many carats and so on, and I feel that a lot of people pursue that. But if you study Cartier and the works by Van Cleef & Arpels, they’re often amazing where the design shines through. They’re so unique they can be considered art pieces, to collect and to keep.
This season, Sotheby’s is proud to present a collection of magnificent jewels that will be the perfect place to start building your legacy jewellery collection. There are important and rare gemstones, jewellery pieces by contemporary designers and prestigious jewellery houses, showcasing nature’s masterpieces in astonishing designs and craftsmanship. The auction will take place on October 7 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, with a preview exhibition starting on October 2.