Chiswick Auctions – The Gerard Collection Of Chinese Export Silver
9th October 2024, 13:00 GMT
www.chiswickauctions.co.uk

LONDON — The Gerard collection of Chinese export silver comes for sale at Chiswick Auctions on October 9. The collection, inspired by the birthday gift of a tea caddy 20 years ago, represents an excellent cross-section of the forms, patterns, retailers and makers of silver in the late Qing and early Republic period. It will be dispersed in more than 120 lots with estimates ranging from £100 to £5,000.

Chinese silversmithing in the western manner has a long history, concurrent with much European silversmithing. The distinctive “China Trade” era wares began in the late Eighteenth Century as near copies of pieces made in London, but by the mid-Nineteenth Century had developed to become a medium truly of its own. Most pieces combine typical European forms with Chinese decoration.

Chinese export silver has been widely collected since the late Twentieth Century. However, the market has been fueled by a new buying audience from the Far East and by recent scholarship.

It is only in recent decades that the markings on these pieces have been properly studied. Previously the focus had been on the Arabic numerals, often 90 or 85, that allude to the purity of the silver and the prominent retailer’s marks in Latin characters. Large Canton, Shanghai and Hong Kong distributors operated, such as Wang Hing, the name that appears on numerous items made from circa 1860-1930, were once erroneously credited as manufacturers.

However, it is now understood that it is the artisan’s marks stamped in Chinese characters that denote the actual silversmithing workshop responsible for producing the piece. As scholars slowly but surely build up a picture of these workshops and their output, understanding these marks has become the focus of collecting of “China Trade” silver.

There are many good examples in the Gerard collection that are cataloged by Chiswick Auctions specialist John Rogers according to the latest research on the topic.

A baluster-form ewer with the mark WH for Wang Hing also carries the Chinese characters for Ye Bo. A prominent workshop in Canton that appears to have almost exclusively supplied Wang Hing and the Shanghai retailer Luen Wo, it is noted for finely worked figural or scenic tableau. This ewer, estimated at £2,5/3,500, is chased and embossed decoration to the body with storks fishing for eels with the handle and finial modeled as a prunus branch.

A similar ewer by this workshop formed part of the influential exhibition “Chinese Export Silver: The Chan Collection” shown at the Asian Civilizations Museum in Singapore in 2005.

Chiswick Auctions has sold significant pieces of Chinese export silver in its past sales that are referenced in the cataloging. A Cantonese campana form standing cup (£2/3,000) has the mark Quan Ji (the workshop of Quan), the maker of a mug dated 1891 for the Shanghai Rowing Club sold in March 2024 for £2,750. This cup, decorated with a figural battle scene, was also used as a trophy by one of the many sporting clubs set up by British expats in the Far East with the presentation inscription reading “Moor 17 October 1886.”

A Republic period bowl with cast and applied decoration of peacocks amid peonies and flowering prunus is marked for Tai Chang Long. Another of the Cantonese makers, the workshop appears to have made a specialty of this idiosyncratic wavy edged form that copies the English spittoon or the Portuguese cuspidor. It is unlikely they were intended as vessels for excess saliva, simply an example of how a European form took on new life in the hands of a Chinese silversmith. It has an estimate of £1,5/2,500.

Other uncommon forms in the Gerard collection include a Qing epergne or centerpiece with dragon’s head feet marked for the Shanghai maker Kun He and retailer Wo Shing (£2/3,000) and a Republic period inkstand marked Qiao Sheng Yuan and LW for the Shanghai retailer Luen Wo (£800-£1,200).

Kun He operated in Shanghai between 1880-1925 producing well-made holloware often using cast and applied decoration. A similar epergne by the maker formed part of the Chinese Export Silver exhibition conducted by London dealer John Sparks in 1990.

The mark Qiao Sheng Yuan (the skillful work of Sheng Yuan) is noted especially on inkstands. This example, embossed and pierced with dragons, figural scenes and flowering prunus, bears comparison to another by the maker offered by the auction house in 2023.

Chiswick Auctions is at Barley Mow Centre, Chiswick. For information, +44 20 8992 4442 or www.chiswickauctions.co.uk.

A collection composed over the last twenty years of studious pursuit
To view the full catalogue, scan the QR-code or visit www.chiswickauctions.co.uk Email john.rogers@chiswickauctions.co.uk Call +44 (0)20 3089 6862 (U.K.)