Asia Week also underpinned the strength of the market in Chinese painting, especially at Sotheby's, where a relatively small sale of 201 contemporary and classical works grossed HKD45,502,600, the house's highest total for any offering of Chinese paintings to date. An Association dedicated to the study of Syrian textiles and costumes of the Islamic world was launched in Paris last month. It also aims to gather, circulate and publish data and documentation relating to the history, techniques, cultural, ethnographic, iconographic and religious meaning of the textiles, as well as to promote the preservation of traditional weaving and dyeing techniques still practised by some craftsmen. These will be used for the gathering of data and future specialist publications on Syrian textiles, as well as the monthly Bulletin . It is hoped that academic institutions will share their resources to bring about the exchange of programmes and information, while art galleries and museums will work together to organise travelling exhibitions.
Plans are already underway for exhibitions from China, Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan and Singapore.
Partnerships with other museums and relevant bodies are still being formed, and corporate and private benefactors are expected to play a significant role in the Institute. Distinguished business leaders with interests in Asian-Australian relations will be encouraged to join the VisAsia International Council. The State Government has also issued a grant to the Art Gallery of New South Wales to build an extension for its Asian Art Gallery, to be completed in 2003.