The catalogue for Amber: Baltic Gold, accompanies the exhibition held at the Indra and Harry Banga Gallery, City University of Hong Kong (December 15, 2022-April 11, 2023) which focuses on amber’s remarkable aesthetic and scientific significance.

Amber is a beautiful and fascinating organic material that for centuries was believed to be a gemstone. Treated like a rare mineral, amber is simply a fossilized form of resin secreted by different plants. The most famous type comes from the Baltic regions, formed from the sap of extinct conifers 100 million years ago. As it drips down the tree, the sap often traps insects and vertebrates, which are then preserved in the amber, offering rare clues about the evolution of species millions of years ago.

The six essays in the catalogue provide an overview of the diffusion of amber across Europe from the Baltic regions to ancient Rome, and then down the famous Silk Road to China.

The earliest amber objects date from the Neolithic ages, from the Baltic areas; thousands of years later treated amber appears in China circa 1,000 BCE, and by the 8th century is commonly buried in Etruscan tombs in Italy. In China, amber continued to be prized over the succeeding centuries, fashioned into precious jewellery and personal accessories. In later medieval and early modern Europe amber was seen as a mysterious and rare material with unknown origins, employed to make private devotional objects and magnificent royal gifts. By the end of the 18th century, however, tastes had changed in both Asia and Europe, and amber’s popularity declined. However, in the Baltic countries it remained a national treasure and important for the decorative arts. Today is amber is undergoing an aesthetic revival, once again it beginning to attract the attention of contemporary artists.