“New Insights into the dating of 17th century Chinese Porcelain with reference to the Butler Collection”
30 years ago, Birgitta and Börje Forsell gathered some people interested in Asian art and culture for a meeting in January that would be the starting point for OCS in Sweden. B&B (Birgitta and Börje) had lived many years in Japan and attended many OCS lectures in Asia. And when they moved back to Sweden, they wanted to form an OCS association in Sweden as well. One of the most important people who supported the idea was Professor Bo Gyllensvärd with his large network of contacts, which meant a lot for the formation of the association. The first meeting was very successful and later in the spring a board was formed and the work continued and in August 2004 the first OCS meeting was invited to be held in the then City Museum in Gothenburg. Since then, there have been countless lectures, object meetings, trips and study visits. One study visit that unfortunately never took place was to Dorset to visit Sir Michael Butler’s collection of 17th century porcelain, considered by many to be the finest collection in the world. Sir Michael Butler passed away in 2013 but his daughter, Katharine Butler, carries on the legacy and at the OCS annual meeting we have the pleasure of hearing her speak about her father’s collection from different perspectives under the title “New Insights into the dating of 17th century Chinese Porcelain, with reference to the Butler Collection”. Togetherwith Teresa Canepa she has written the book “Leaping the Dragon Gate the sir Michael Butler collection of 17th-century chinese porcelain” which is so much more than a catalog and is highly recommended. During this anniversary year we in Gothenburg will try to do something extra at our meetings and of course we will have a party.