Page 43 - Chinese SIlver By Adrien Von Ferscht

MANUFACTURING PERIODS

My recent research has resulted in a great deal of additional information about Chinese
silver produced during the Chinese Export Silver manufacturing period, 1785-1940. A
significant number of silver items have been carefully scrutinised, recorded and
categorised in sufficient detail that a far more accurate picture of what was produced,
where, when and by whom has now been revealed. Perhaps most importantly, for whom
the silver was intended is far more evident. All this collective data makes it increasingly
clear that the whole concept of there ever having been a self-contained Chinese silver
category made exclusively for export needs to be re-assessed. Quite simply, relatively few
items of Chinese silver were made explicitly for export.

Perceptions of what we call “Chinese Export Silver” have become entrenched, but with a
more complete overall picture now available, these are shown to fundamentally incorrect.
Equally entrenched is the collective name we have called this silver for over 50 years, so
while it is unlikely to disappear overnight it seems fitting that we re-assign the silver to
more appropriate categories

It is true that some Chinese silver was definitely exported during both the Qing and
Republic periods, yet we can only say with reasonable certainty that the early neo-
classical “Georgian” style silver produced between 1785-1840 was almost exclusively
made for the export market. That said, it is perfectly reasonable and correct to regard all
Chinese silver made between 1785-1940 as belonging to a single definitive silver genus.
These 155 years may be sub-divided into four distinct manufacturing periods, each having
singularly distinctive stylistic attributes that reflect the historical and social circumstances
of that point in time.

I have chosen to call the initial period “The Formative China Trade Period”; a significant
Chinese export trade certainly flourished prior to the 19th century up until the Canton
System of trade was introduced. Foreign merchants, in particular British and American,
were allowed to have a Chinese mainland base during the China Trade period, but many
formed lucrative working partnerships with Chinese merchants often based on a
somewhat enigmatic gentleman’s agreement or silent partner arrangement. These
partnerships were extremely complex and driven by the frenetic trading environment in
Canton and an insatiable desire by all parties to make money. It has now become clear
that the China Trade was the facilitator rather than the cause of silver being made in China
and being widely exported not only to the West, but also to territories such as India, the
Arabian Gulf and Australia.

The second or “Early China Trade Period” spans the beginning of the introduction of the
Canton System and the signing of the Treaty of Nanking. Of all four periods, the silver
created during this time is probably the most complex and confusing to those, both
Westerner and Chinese, trying to make sense of it today. The fact we can now understand
how and why a great deal of silver from this period was created Should not make us forget
that, at exactly the same time, silver was being produced in a traditional Chinese style,