Page 952 - Chinese SIlver By Adrien Von Ferscht

As condiment shakers, these [below] are
almost monumental. One can begin to
detect there was a penchant for the
classical at Yu Chang.

The reticulated shallow dish [left] shows a
high level of skill in the art of fretwork
silver and quite different in both style and even quality of Ye Ching, yet the 2 marks side by side speaks
volumes; Yu Chang also marked items with an “A” from time to time, although it is not fully understood why.

Far right, a Yu Chang reticulated caged Haig “Dimple” whisky
decanter; below left, a Ye Ching version. At first-impression the
similarity is uncanny, the Yu Chang piece is far superior, having a
more ambitious and complicated cage work that also includes
engraved embellishments.
Interestingly, the Yu Chang piece
was sold at auction catalogued as
being “1890”. Given the Haig
Dimple bottle was first produced in
1893 and it would have been
probably 1895 at the earliest the
iconic bottles would have reached
China. Wang Hing & Co was the
first Chinese silversmith to cage
the Dimple; the first, it is said, was
installed on the bar in the exclusive
Hong Kong Club.
Images courtesy of WorthPoint; Berry
& Co, San Jose, USA; Supershrink’s
House of Silver; Auctionata AG,
Berlin; Koopmans Fine Art, London;
Mallam’s, Cheltenham, UK

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