Page 696 - Chinese SIlver By Adrien Von Ferscht

TAI HING [aka: DA XING; TA HSING]
North Bridge Road, Singapore & Canton
circa 1855-1910

Ever since Western research
began into Chinese Export
Silver in the 1960’s, silver
carrying the mark of Da Xing
has been the subject of
controversy and conjecture
and the story is still a work in
progress.

Clearly an accomplished
silversmith and equally
clearly Chinese, the mark
often finds itself on items of
silver that are obviously not
typically Chinese and yet of
superb quality. This,
therefore, points to the place
of manufacture of those
pieces as being outside of
China; Singapore

However, there are also items that are far more
Chinese in both feel and execution and, taking into
account that 19th century Western merchants make
reference to Da Xing and appear to do so in
conjunction with Canton, it is reasonable to assume
that two manufacturing bases may have been
operating simultaneously.

Tai Hing [or Da Xing] silver is normally of high quality
and has a quite definitive and highly decorated
traditional style, indicating it probably exerted a high
degree of design and quality control over its
supplying artisan workshops. Some Da Xing marks
denote specifically more of a Canton origin.

The Da Xing box [right] is a traditional Daoist Chinese
decorative interpretation of a bat upon a peach - one
of the most widely used allegorical combinations in
Chinese art. In the context of this box, the meaning to
be conveyed is “May both blessings and longevity be
complete in your life”. Clearly carrying the Da Xing
silver mark, this is very much a Chinese box, not a
Straits Chinese silver box.