Beschreibung:

清末 「Wang Hing」、「90」、「大吉」錘印款 外銷銀八角人物花卉圖茶具一組三件 及 咖啡壺一件 （共四件） comprising: a three-piece tea service including a teapot, milk jug, and sugar jar, and a tall coffee pot; each of octagonal form, the side panel applied with dragons in clouds, goldfish in watergrass, scholars gathering in garden setting, birds in bamboo grove, attached with one or two sinuous five-clawed dragon handles, each piece marked on the base with 'Wang Hing 90 Taikut' mark in square (4) Tea pot: 23cm, 677g; sugar jar: 18cm wide, 316g; milk jug: 12.5cm wide, 206g; coffee pot: 23.5cm wide, 799g Provenance: Private English collection, London; acquired by Mary Josephine Anderson, née Noble (1888-1964) who was born in Hong Kong, thence by descent. Her father George E. Noble (1846-1901) joined the newly founded Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) when he was 19 and rose to the top position of Chief Manager until illness necessitated his early retirement. Note: Taikut (大吉) was the name of a silver workshop located in Canton, active during the late Qing period. There is also the mark of Wang Hing which was a well-known craft shop, based in Hong Kong, 10 Queen's Road Central, famous for specialising in gold and silver. According to Adrien von Frescht, "The Taikut mark appears on its own as well as in conjunction with the Wang Hing mark. This implies that Taikut was both a manufacturing workshop and a retail silversmith. It is perhaps revealing that the Wang Hing/Tai Kut combined mark is actually created by a single punch, indicating this was some form of working partnership and a regularly used one." See Chinese Export Silver 1785-1940, The Definitive Collectors' Guide, University of Glasgow. Scottish Centre for China Research, 2015