CHINESE EXPORT SILVER: Cicada Season!
CHINESE EXPORT SILVER: Cicada Season! With billions of cicadas about to plague America, to the Chinese they have traditionally been a symbol of immortality and longevity. Chinese gentry once decorated their hats with a jade cicada, 蝉 chan, in the belief they would be considered a man of principle; the fact the cicada climbs to […]
CHINESE EXPORT SILVER: Hong Kong Nostalgia
The Hong Kong retail silversmith WAI KEE 惠記 [in Mandarin: HUI JI] is one of the few retailers that truly spans three centuries; founded in 1885, the firm is still operating in almost the same location by Pedder Street with the same specialities of pearls, jewellery and what has become known as Chinese export silver […]
CHINESE EXPORT SILVER: “Sailing into the tiger’s mouth”
The SHING WO [SHENG HE] 和勝 artisan silver workshop in Canton was probably the most masterful in creating detailed miniature items of silver; a much-overlooked area of late Qing and Republic era Chinese silver-making. What the West would probably call a “junk boat” finds its roots back in the Han dynasty; the Qing dynasty equivalent […]
THE WORLD OF CHINESE SILVER MINIATURES
In the past year there has been a noticeable increase in interest in Chinese silver miniature items from both the late Qing dynasty and the Republic era. Quite coincidentally this has been a period where my own research has focussed on collating and recording these items on the fast-growing image database that is part and […]
CHINESE EXPORT SILVER:
The Big Leap Forward READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE: http://chinese-export-silver.com.gridhosted.co.uk/cDVN2
Rare Qing Dynasty Mixed-Metals Confections 稀珍清代混合金屬組合的聯繫
Decorative items made of mixed metals by Chinese artisans who were otherwise known for their work in silver and gold existed throughout the many centuries of China’s silver-making history, but they were rarely noticeable during the 255-year Qing dynasty silver repertoire. That said, 19th and early 20th century Chinese silversmiths certainly had a penchant for […]
CHINESE SILVER-MAKING HAS JEWISH ROOTS!
CHINESE SILVER-MAKING HAS JEWISH ROOTS Ongoing research at the Chinese Silver Research Centre [CSRI] at Tsinghua University, Beijing is furthering its focus on the Jewish merchants and actual silversmiths from Sassania [modern day Iran] who plied the Silk Road for centuries, introducing the art of silver-making to China. Chinese silver retained a definitive “persian” influence […]
加州淘金热对中国银器和香港的影响 by Adrien von Ferscht 皇甫安 Translated by Chao Huang 黄超
THE CALIFORNIA GOLD-RUSH EFFECT ON CHINESE SILVER AND HONG KONG 加州淘金热对中国银器和香港的影响 by Adrien von Ferscht 皇甫安 Translated by Chao Huang 黄超 深入研究发现，中国外销银是目前看来最复杂和最多样的银类品种，无法任取一件这种银器物而知其然，因其内涵传递的信息远比其外观要多。拾一件外销银如同握一颗手榴弹，其中满裹着各种历史、文化和艺术价值，随时准备引爆而揭开一个个秘密。 然而中国外销银长期以来背负着错误的命名，也许长达50年，或许更长时期。即使随着其需求与影响的扩大，银制品也一直并非物如其名，也从没有人给予它一个接近真相的适合头衔。我们有且仅有从史料记载的时间上判断，在18世纪末至1840年这60多年的时间里，一大批重要的新古典银相继出现，先是为了“出口市场”而生产，后则是供“国内消费”而制作。而这些银制品的制造者/主人，多以旅居中国的西方居民或新兴中国的中产阶级为主。 关于银制品制造者，笔者经过最近大量的勘校性研究后发现，一些被西方认为是“制造者”身份的人，实际上并不是制造者，而是零售银匠或零售商，并且银制品也仅仅只是其售卖的其中一种特殊商品。这众多鉴定银器标识背后的人物，在这时空中，经常能够带人进入一个无法预料的旅程，笔者本文想要介绍的，便是其中这样一个银器标识—-香港的“Chong Woo（长和）”。 “长和”标识最早可追溯到英国殖民统治早期（具体而言是1849年起），此标识虽无特别明确的样式，又往往与优质产品无关，但有其标识的银器却多为稀缺品，并且它的存在清楚地表明了曾有人懂得银器的工艺以及样式质量监控。 实际上，“长和”之名完全是虚构的名称，该标识背后的真实人物是招雨田（Chiu Yu Tin，常称招成林），14岁移民香港，是香港岛最早的移民者之一。他出生在距广州不远的南海县的一个贫苦家庭。碰巧的是，许多重要的广州零售银匠也来自佛山南海县，也就是说，招雨田很可能与银匠世家有着某些密切联系。 […]
“BOSTON MERCHANTS AND THE HONGS OF CANTON”
“BOSTON MERCHANTS AND THE HONGS OF CANTON” by Adrien von Ferscht June/July Issue of New England Antique Journal An historic article acknowledging the historic link between Canton, Massachusetts Bay and the birth of Chinese Export Silver Most of the China Trade merchants came from either Britain or North America; many of the British […]
