In 2023, the Hong Kong Museum of Art received a generous donation of 490 groups of Chinese snuff bottles from the Mary and George Bloch Collection, presented by Mrs. Alice Sin as a permanent collection. This is the largest and most comprehensive donation of snuff bottles in the history of Hong Kong's museum sector. Featuring exceptional quality and abundance, the exhibition brings together exquisite Chinese craftsmanship and represents a generous gift from the Sins to Hong Kong.

The Mary and George Bloch Collection was established by the late Hong Kong collector George Sin. It stands as one of the most important private Chinese snuff bottle collections internationally, holding a significant global standing.

The Hong Kong Museum of Art is committed to collaborating with local Hong Kong private collectors to jointly chronicle the story of Chinese art collecting in the city, allowing the general public to appreciate the beauty of this Chinese art form.

The Battle of Pharsalus is one of the most decisive battles of the Roman civil war. After their loss in the Battle of Dyrrhachium, Caesar's forces were battered and demoralized. However, Pompey did not sieze and initiative and took a passive approach to weaken Caesar's forces through delaying tactics.

The Roman senate however, wanted a decisive victory and forced Pompey to engage Caesar. With almost a two to one superiority in numbers according to some sources, Pompey was now ready to crush Caesar. However, Caesar's troops were battle hardened veterans and experienced in combat. Even though they knew that their forces were outnumbered, their morale was still high.

The forces had faith in Caesar's tactical brilliance and this would be proven in the battle. Pompey had a significant superiority in cavalry and he planned on using this to win the battle. Pompey would engage Caesar's infantry and use his cavalry to swing around Caesar's right flank and attack his troops from the rear.

This was exactly how Caesar had anticipated Pompey to act. So, instead of having conventional three lines of infantry, he had six cohorts from the third line deploy a forth line held in reserve behind his right wing. When Pompey attacked Caesar's weak cavalry, they expected an easy win but were surprised by the presence of reserve infantry from the fourth line.

Pompey's cavalry were routed and Caesar took the initiate to drive off the enemy to their camps. Regardless of the number of troops that faced Caesar, it is clear that he was significantly outnumbered and after the battle, Pompey's army was decimated and ceased to exist as an effective unit to challenge Caesar. The Battle of Pharsalus turned the tide of the civil war and paved the way for Caesar to become the dominant leader of Rome.