Page 898 - Chinese SIlver By Adrien Von Ferscht

XIANG AN [SAI KWAN]
Ang Liang Li, Xi Guan, Canton
circa 1880-1920

Technically not a Chinese Export Silver maker per se, but a maker of highest quality silver items for the affluent
Chinese market in Canton during the Chinese Export Silver manufacturing period. Xi Guan was an affluent area
of large mansions where wealthy Chinese merchants lived.

An expert in “kingfisher inlay” [tian-tsui]; a skilled Chinese artisan would take a single hair or feather filament
from a kingfisher’s wing, draw it through some glue and lay it on the silver or metal foundation/framework. The
artisan would then take another hair and lay it beside the first. This process continues endlessly until the artisan
has laid the filaments from the kingfisher’s wing feathers so closely together that they resemble a piece of
enamel.

For over 2,000 years, the Chinese have been using the iridescent blue kingfisher feathers of kingfisher birds as
an inlay for fine art objects and adornment, from hairpins, headdresses, and fans to entire panels and screens.
Although essentially a Chinese art, Westerners did prize kingfisher items highly, especially members of the
foreign resident community in Canton, where tian-tsui combs and head-dresses would have been regularly
seen.

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