Page 665 - Chinese SIlver By Adrien Von Ferscht

This tankard is Siu Kee’s acknowledgment
of its Chinese roots, albeit it a slimmed
down, rather stylistic way. The angular
handle, or the penchant for sharp angles in
general, seems to be somewhat of a Siu
Kee signature.

The planished ground and plain vacant
cartouche mirror the same features on the
pastry tongs and cake slice.

While the same signature finely planished
ground has been used on the Siu Kee box
[below], it is obviously far more than a mere
acknowledgement to Chinese provenance
with the inclusion of the repoussé dragons.
But even in this overtly Chinese element,
the box sits quite comfortably with the
tankard, so one can detect a desire by
whoever was at the helm of Siu Kee to
achieve a conformity of house style.

Images courtesy of Bonhams, London; Bonhams, New York; Supershrink Storehouse of Silver; Lyon & Turnbull,
Edinburgh, UK

http://chinese-export-silver.com Image Library Archive