Page 558 - Chinese SIlver By Adrien Von Ferscht

The previously illustrated bowl was made by Ning Zhao Ji for the Shanghai retail silversmith Luen Wo. Some
would say that a bowl is a bowl is a bowl, but this bowl has qualities others lack. Obviously the repoussé dragon
is both striking and well executed, but the scalloped raised rim and the scalloped and shaped skirted base add a
touch of genius and make this bowl stand out from the many other dragon bowls. The highly polished bowl is
rich-looking unusually bare of extraneous decoration.

Only a master silversmith totally in control of his art could produce an object as fine and as striking as this circa
1895 tazza. It bears the mark of Ning Zhao Ji as the artisan silversmith and the mark of Taylor & Company, the
luxury retail company in Shanghai and Tientsin that operated in the manner of compradors. Taylor & Company
was known to have very close ties with the Imperial Court and the Emperor himself and the Dowager Empress
Cixi.