Arts of Asia: Chinese furniture and objets d'art from the Tchen Gi-Vane (Cheng Zhifan) Collection (1924-2021) Part II

Tchen Gi-Vane Collection

Tchen Gi-Vane (Pinyin: Cheng Zhifan) (1924-2021), the eldest daughter of the famous Republic of China newspaper publisher Cheng Shewo, pianist, painter, collector and social activist.

Mrs. Tchen Gi-Vane studied music from childhood and taught at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music after graduating from the Shanghai College of Music. In late 1951, at the age of 23, Tchen Gi-Vane accompanied a Hong Kong musical group on a piano tour of France, during which she met French engineer Philippe Bertrand (1926-2023). They married a year later and settled in Rambouillet.

Tchen Gi-Vane has given piano recitals in many countries. She also organized solo exhibitions in many places, and her paintings were collected by the Musée National d'Art Moderne in France.

In 1976, Mr. Bertrand, in love with his wife and passionate about Chinese culture, designed and built the magnificent "Pagoda" (Wan Yun Lou in Chinese) in the garden of their home to preserve and display the collection of Chinese objects, antique textiles and musical instruments his wife had collected over the years.

The Pagoda is a three-storey Chinese-style building with octagonal double eaves. As Mrs. Tchen Gi-Vane was a follower of Taoism who founded the French Taoism Association and was its first president, the Pagoda reflects the symbolism and aesthetics of Taoism, both in the general form of the building and in the details of the interior decoration.

In this astonishing building, listed as a French cultural heritage site, Mr. and Mrs. Tchen-Bertrand received countless visitors, friends, journalists and dignitaries from all over the world, and taught music and Tai ji quan here until the end of their lives. A place for the exchange of traditional Chinese music and culture, the Pagoda has made an indelible contribution to contemporary cultural exchanges between France and China.

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