Page 227 - Chinese SIlver By Adrien Von Ferscht

Also circa 1830, this snuff
box with elegant guilloché
lid and back and acanthus
and tudor rose cast thumb
piece that was so precisely
made that it still closes
with that satisfying click
184 years after it left
Canton.

Probably one of the earliest known pieces of Cutshing silver,
this silver mounted coconut stemmed cup [left] dates from
the end of the 18th century. A coconut in Canton is not as
bizarre as it might seem; a significant number of the English
and Scottish merchants active in the China Trade were
equally active in the sugar trade in the West Indies, many of
them owning vast plantations there.
Silver mounted coconut goblets were often to be found in
“ c a b i n e t s o f
curiosity” in the best
aristocratic families
in England, Scotland
and across Europe
and had been since
the 16th century
when the English
silver cup [right] was
made circa 1576.
C o c o n u t w a s
deemed to have
healing properties
and was considered
an aphrodisiac by
the Elizabethans.