Page 47 - Chinese SIlver By Adrien Von Ferscht

Style

What is probably one of the most revealing characteristics of Chinese Export silver is its
weight, most pieces being as much as one third heavier than comparable Western silver
pieces. This is mainly due to the discrepancies between the vast amount of silver in China
compared to Western trading countries; quantities in China were so immense that unlike
Western silver making cultures, weight was almost an irrelevancy.

From the mid-17th century more than 9 billion Troy ounces or 290 thousand tonnes
of silver was absorbed by China from European countries in exchange for Chinese
goods!

A significant amount of Chinese silver made in the late 18th and early 19th centuries took
the form of well-made copies of British or American neo-classical Georgian styles. This
phenomenon came about as a direct result of the sudden reduction of mined silver from
South America that in turn created a prohibitive rise in the cost of raw silver in both
America, Britain and the rest of Europe. The fact that China had by far the largest reserves
of raw silver, the value of silver always remained relatively protected from the vagaries of
the world outside China. With the China Trade in full swing, foreign merchants resident in
Canton and Chinese silversmiths having skills equal to the very best of European and
American silversmiths, Canton suddenly became a viable and attractive source of high
quality silver wares.

By 1860 the population of Hong Kong was heading for 250,000 having been a virtually
insignificant fishing village of a few thousand only 40 years previous. Many of the
merchant-based companies that had previously been active in Canton and the East India
trade along with numerous entrepreneurial newcomers were thriving at an unprecedented
rate. The combination of prosperity and a large international community attracted a
significant number of the Canton silversmiths. This was reflected in a more catholic style of
silver that found a synergy between Chinese decorative motifs on objects that were more
suited to a Western lifestyle. Some might call it a fantasy version of the Chinese style,
since silversmiths and their silver were still ingrained with the traditional allegorical
meanings of these motifs that, in the main, went over the heads of most buyers; to a
Westerner this was simply exotic, à la mode and highly desirable.