Chinese Export Silver

Chinese Export Silver was intended to reproduce functional objects in the European style. However, in copying the European models, the Chinese artisans managed to add to those objects such Chinese motifs as the dragon and phoenix and scenes of life at the Chinese court. The result is that there was a charming fusion between the East and West.

Beginning in the 5th century B.C., the Chinese employed both silver and gold as decorative inlays on ritual vessels, garment hooks and chariot fittings. By the 8th century, a new approach to silver took into consideration the actual physical quality of the metal and raised (hammered) vessels began to appear. Normally in the form of goblets, cups, bowls and small boxes, the Chinese even turned silver into hairpins and scissors. China had been exporting silk to the Roman Empire, later the Byzantine Empire, and was familiar with the cultures of the Middle East. Reflecting the increased level of international contact during the 8th century, many of the Chinese forms show direct influence from the Sassanian Empire in present-day Iran. By the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the forms reverted to domestic Chinese taste and, no longer responding to the plastic qualities of the metal, took on simple, ceramic shapes.

Even though the Chinese began exporting porcelains to Persia in the 14th century, works of art in silver were unknown outside of China until the 17th century when the Dutch and others began exporting small pieces of domestic Chinese silver to Europe. The earliest recorded example of Chinese silver in the West appeared in England in 1680. Even though Chinese export porcelains in Western shapes were not made much before 1700, it was well into the 18th century that silver followed suit.

One such example of export work created for the Indo-Persian market is a splendid silver gilt rose water sprinkler with a separate, floating cage of fine filigree work.

Similar examples are at the Victoria and Albert Museum and at Powis Castle, where they were brought by Clive of India. These are extremely rare pieces and are presently underappreciated on the international market. Because the production of Chinese silver in Western forms dates only from about 1785, little is known about production before that date.

Being cheaper to have silver made in Western (mainly English) shapes than to buy the original in England, the early period (1785-1835) of Chinese production was devoted to creating English forms. One such example is a large teakettle on stand, complete with pseudo-hallmarks. Despite the rarity of these pieces in relation to the much more numerous English originals, they remain neglected on the international market and their prices in no way reflect their rarity or quality.

The second period of export silver (1835-1850) reflects the burgeoning presence of English and American trade with China. This was a period of mixed styles with heavy influence from the taste for the rococo revival predominant in the U.K. and America. Following the 1842 and 1843 U.K. and U.S. treaties that opened the ports of Fuzhou, Amoy, Ningpo and Shanghai, Americans and English poured into China and brought their tastes with them. Large wine goblets, dishes and large covered cups tended to dominate the production. Even though the shapes and dominant decorations reflected European neo-rococo taste, details in Chinese taste were rife.

The third period (1850-1885) was dominated by Chinese style pieces in which European forms were reworked into Chinese taste and the decoration was purely Chinese, relying heavily on repoussé and chased work. From about 1885 to 1900, the production of these Chinese style pieces exploded, mainly in the form of small articles such as picture frames, cups, small boxes and the like. After 1900, particularly in Shanghai, blatantly Western forms catered to Western residents and to the Western market. These forms included cigar boxes, tea sets, cocktail shakers and the like, all of simple form, but decorated in very high relief with dragons.

Contributed by - Martin Lorber is a specialist consultant with Masterson Gurr Johns, a New York-based firm of Art Consultants and Appraisers. Martin Lorber comes from a family of Old China Hands and his professional work in the area of Asian art includes thirteen years with Sotheby's New York as Director and founder of the Japanese/Korean/Indian/Southeast Asian Department. He has also advised Christie's New York, Nagel's Stuttgart, Doyle's New York, as well as numerous collectors, dealers, and museums. He is a journalist and contributor to articles in Arts of Asia and Orientations, and lectures and writes frequently and serves as the principal American correspondent for the Asian Art Newspaper.