Bonhams 1793 : A very fine Chinese silver documentary presentation vase and cover Impressed Hung Chong & Co and De Chang marks, late 19th century

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8 Nov 2012 10:00 GMT London, New Bond Street
Fine Chinese Art
Back to auction 20024

A very fine Chinese silver documentary presentation vase and cover

Impressed Hung Chong & Co and De Chang marks, late 19th century
The ovoid vase finely chased in relief with a mounted war party and foot soldiers wielding halberds, spears, swords and shields escorting two ladies in a cart in a mountainous landscape, with a bat suspending a cartouche in the centre with an Endless Knot tassel, with a dedicatory inscription dated 17 September 1894, flanked by a pair of powerful dragon heads with foliate sprays emerging from their jaws and forming the handles, the reverse similarly decorated with a war party and above officials and scholars set between a gated compound and a military tent set with a field desk bearing a crane pricket candlestick and cup, all below the waisted neck and everted rim with a foliate border, raised on three kneeling boy supports, the stepped domed cover with a dragon amidst clouds finial encircled by a figural scene depicting the Four Noble Occupations, scholar, farmer, fisherman and wood cutter, the base impressed with the marks, wood stand. 49.5cm (19in) high high (3).

Sold for £58,850 inc. premium

Footnotes

十九世紀晚期銀鏨刻人物故事圖蓋瓶「Hung Chong & Co、德昌」款

Hung Chong & Co. was a leading and highly respected jeweller working in the second half of the 19th century and up to the 1920s, based at Club Street, Honam Island, Canton, as well as at IIb Nanking Road, Shanghai.

This vase is inscribed in German with a fascinating presentation message:

Dem Tapferen Streiter
in der Schlacht am Yalu
17 Sept. 1894
Herrn A.C. Hekman
Z.F.E
H.Mandl
Ph.Lieder

which can be translated:

To the brave combatant
In the battle at Yalu
17 September 1894
from Mr.A.C. Hekman
Z.F.E
H.Mandl
Ph.Lieder

The Battle of the Yalu River took place on 17 September 1894, in an area of the Yellow Sea at the mouth of the Yalu River. It was the largest naval engagement of the First Sino-Japanese War, involving ships from the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Chinese Beiyang Fleet. Some ships in the Chinese fleet had been built by the Germans, and it was reported that Western advisors were active at the battle; these named Germans were almost certainly present at the battle, and hence commemorated in this fine vase as donors to an unnamed but exceptionally brave military figure in the battle.