This impressive Chinese Export Silver (CES) bowl has a circular rounded form.
The body of this antique silver bowl is embellished with impressive six chased decorated panels, all with matte backgrounds.
The decoration to the body incorporates illustrations of three of the four noble plants: bamboo stalks, prunus branches and chrysanthemum.
The body is further embellished with a panel depicting three figures (wenren) by scholar's rocks (gong shi) and another bearing Sanxing, the gods of the celestial bodies known as FU (福), SHOU (壽) and LU (祿)*.
The final panel depicts a traditional oriental undulating dragon amidst cloud designs.
Each panel is segmented with a plain rounded border, conjoining at the rim to make an incurved design.
This exceptional Chinese silver bowl is fitted with three exceptional embossed scrolling dragon decorated feet; these three-dimensional figures conjoin the bowl at the rim in addition to suspending the body from the lower portion.
The bowl is fitted to the original carved cherry wood stand, ornamented with impressive scrolling designs.
The upper plateau of the stand bears three recesses to allow the aforementioned feet to sit securely in situ.
The hallmarks struck to the underside of this fine bowl include:
Retailer's mark: WH (宏興, Wang Hing, Canton & Honk Kong)
Artisan workshop mark: JIA JI (佳記, Canton & Hong Kong))
NOTE: We are grateful to Adrien von Ferscht for his help in identifying the hallmarks and providing insight to the ornamentation.
* SHOU is the symbol for "longevity", FU symbolises "good fortune" and LU is the deity of prosperity, rank and influence; the Chinese character LU 祿 specifically refers to the salary of a government official.
** The dragon is the highest-ranking creature in the Chinese animal lexicon and is one of the most revered animals in Chinese history.
