Page 332 - Chinese SIlver By Adrien Von Ferscht

HSIANG YUN CO.
Sing Seng Road, Hankow
circa 1890-1940

Hsiang Yun was a manufacturing company that was one of the only sources of electroplated silver items in
China; it also made high quality brass items. Their repertoire was mainly candlesticks and candelabrum , but
they were high quality, comparable to Elkington in England. Silver-plating was virtually unknown in China, given
the sheer availability of silver and the relative cheapness of manufacturing. Hankow, standing north of the
Yangtze and Han rivers, was a city with five foreign concession areas – Great Britain, France, Russia, Germany
and Japan. Hankow had a riverfront Bund, similar to ShangHai. Often mis-catalogued as Chinese Export Silver!
The style of these candelabrum indicate they were probably made for either the French or Russian market. Each
of these large candelabra has a fluted base and a conform stem and candle holders. The arms have stylised
crane bird masks at their mounts to the stems. Although the crane bird was revered in China because it was
believed they lived for centuries, they also have significance in French culture – in fact the English word
“pedigree” is derived from the late Middle French phrase “pie de grue” [foot of the crane] – a fanciful way of
describing the appearance of the hereditary lines of a genealogical chart.