On the afternoon of April 28, 2026, at the invitation of the Faculty of Innovation and Design of the City University of Macau, Mr. Zhu Wanzhang—a researcher at the Hong Kong Palace Museum and a renowned expert in painting and calligraphy connoisseurship and art history—delivered a specialized lecture entitled "Authentication and Forgery Detection of Ancient Chinese Painting and Calligraphy". The lecture focused on the core methodologies and practical applications of painting and calligraphy appraisal, attracting a large number of art history students and connoisseurship enthusiasts, thereby creating a profound academic atmosphere.

Drawing upon his extensive experience in museum-based appraisal and research, Mr. Zhu Wanzhang first emphasized the foundational status of "authentication" in art history research. He noted that regardless of whether the focus is on calligraphic creation or art historical discourse, the objects of study must be authentic works; if research is established upon forgeries, the conclusions will inevitably deviate fundamentally from the truth.

In the primary segment of the lecture, Mr. Zhu utilized a vast array of rare visual materials and firsthand appraisal cases to systematically reconstruct the deductive process of authentication and forgery detection through multiple dimensions, including the era-specific characteristics of painting and calligraphy formats, styles of inscriptions, architectural features, and analyses of specific forgery cases. By comparing different "linguistic" styles of various eras, he analyzed the methods for identifying "forgeries" and "alterations" that occur during the process of transmission. Furthermore, he shared core perspectives from his scholarly works, such as Appraisal and Research on Painting and Calligraphy and Auspicious Objects: An Alternative Vision of Ming and Qing Flower-and-Bird Painting, demonstrating the profound relationship between the history of connoisseurship and art history as two sides of the same coin.

Subsequently, Mr. Zhu focused his analysis on several highly representative cases of forgery. Through rigorous empirical analysis, he revealed how forgers utilize antique paper and ink to deceive, and how appraisers can resolve such complexities by identifying logical loopholes in era-specific elements, such as subtle formats of painting and calligraphy, styles of signatures, and architectural characteristics. This comprehensive evaluation—ranging from micro-level technical analysis to macro-level stylistic judgment—provided the audience with a highly practical and professional framework for appraisal.

At the conclusion of the lecture, faculty and students engaged in an academic exchange with Mr. Zhu regarding the balance between intuition and empirical evidence in appraisal, the provenance of museum collections, and various challenges in art history research. With a broad perspective that transcends both connoisseurship and creation, Mr. Zhu provided detailed responses and encouraged the students to "accumulate knowledge through the minute" in their academic pursuits, urging them to devote significant effort to rigorous verification at the finest levels of detail.

This lecture presented a magnificent academic feast for the faculty and students of the City University of Macau. It not only enhanced the collective understanding of the scientific nature of ancient Chinese painting and calligraphy appraisal but also, through Mr. Zhu's years of accumulated academic achievements, further broadened the horizons of young scholars in the fields of iconographic narrative and the history of connoisseurship. The event holds significant importance in promoting the spirit of empirical research in the study of painting and calligraphy.