Post under construction.
Two 18th Century Chinese Silver Filigree Caskets from the Gerard Collection.
and some comparable examples.
Sold by Chiswick Auctions, London 9 October 2024.
I have written on the subject of Chinese Filigree before but in this post I will concentrate on the two boxes from the Gerard Collection.
There are other objects which were made using the same techniques as these boxes in particular Gulab Pash (rosewater sprinklers) and there are many examples of tubular Bodkin Cases.
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In this post I attempt to identify some filigree pieces that may? have originated from Batavia and Sumatra.
https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/10/a-mystery-object.html
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Silver and Silver Gilt Chinese Filigree Casket.
15.2 cms.
Mid 18th Century.
A near identical casket is illustrated Kwan. S. (2018)
Chinese Export Silver – The Muwen Tang Collection. Hong Kong: Muwen Tang Fine
Arts Publication Ltd. p.80-81, f.4.
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The Chinese Silver and Silver Gilt Filigree Box with London Dealer Joseph Cohen.
Mid 18th Century.
Height 6.5 cms, width 16 cms, depth 14 cms.
Many thanks are due to Joseph Cohen for all his assistance.
https://www.josephcohenantiques.com/
Refs.
Christies, Lot 171, Sale 2373, 19th May 2010, New York
Christies, Lot 200A, Sale 2474, 21st October 2011, New York
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The Hermitage, St Petersburg Box.
17x 6,5 x13 cm.
Probably Canton, China.
Mid 18th Century.
https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital-collection/08.+applied+arts/580550
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Another Very Similar Chinese Silver Gilt Casket with London Dealer Michael Backman.
height: 6.7cm, length: 16cm, width: 12cm.
On his website Michael Backman questions the origin of these boxes and suggests perhaps Batavia but I am inclined to a Chinese probably Canton origin.
https://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/archived_objects/silver-filigree-batavian-or-chinese-casket-box/
Many thanks to Michael Backman for permission to use his photographs.
A casket of similar form and decoration which is attributed
to the third quarter of the eighteenth century Batavia is illustrated in
Voskuil-Groenewegen (1998, p. 66). Similar pieces from another toiletry set
from the Prussian and Germany royal von Hohenzollern family and in the David
Chan Collection are illustrated in Chan (2005). These are attributed to the
mid-18th century.
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The Tremont Auctions Chinese Filigree Box.
3 x 6.5 inches.
Tremont Auctions, Dudbury Mass. USA. Lot 11 - 12 November 2023.
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The Bonham's Smythe-Pigot Chinese Filigree Box.
8 cms wide.
The interior brightly gilt and incised to the cover with the
arms of Smythe-Pigot
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Chinese Filigree Box on the London Dealers Koopman's website.
https://www.koopman.art/blog-detail/34093
18th/ 19th Century Chinese Silver Gilt and Silver Filigree Box.
With Butterfly Design on the Front. The Butterfly Motif appears on at least two other Chinese Boxes that I am aware of - one is in the collection at Burghley House, Lincolnshire another is currently in a private collection.
Catalogued as Dutch?
Size 3" x 1"
Victoria and Albert Museum.
Accession Number M.183-1940.
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O91908/snuff-box-unknown/
Length of tray: 11.5cm, length of box: 9.3cm.
https://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/object/colonial-silver-filigree-lidded-box-tray/
https://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/
Michael Backman makes the case for this object and many similar pieces having been made by Chinese craftsmen working in Batavia (Jakarta) but I remain to be convinced.
I cannot pretend to be an expert - but there seems to have been a need by some scholars to attribute the this type of work to Indonesia, manufactured by emigrée Chinese craftsmen.
This is also the case with many objects particularly caskets illustrated elsewhere in this blog but which show techniques used in 17th and 18th Century Europe.
Many of these pieces might have been constructed by craftsmen in Indonesia particularly
Batavia under the auspices of Dutch craftsmen.
The absence of any pieces with a long term provenance does not help in researches.
It should be noted that the Chinese were ejected (for want
of a better term) from Batavia in 1740.
For a very revealing article on the subject which makes for particularly grim reading and does not put the Dutch colonists/ occupiers in a very good light see -
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An 18th Century Chinese Silver Gilt and Silver Filigree Writing Box.
Accession Number - XLIV-440.
A truly fabulous piece - a very gentle clean and polish would vastly improve the appearance.
I have written on the subject of some Chinese Objects in Indian Museums previously -
https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/11/some-chinese-filigree-objects-in-indian.html
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The Victoria and Albert Museum Silver Gilt Filigree Caddy.
Height 18 cms.
Referred to in Jaffer and Jackson. Encounters: The Meeting
of Asia and Europe 1500-1800, V&A Publications, 2004.
The museum website states 18th century but give no clues as
to its provenance.
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for much more on Chinese silver filigree see -
https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/10/a-mystery-object.html
https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/11/some-chinese-filigree-objects-in-indian.html
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For a fairly in depth look at Chinese Filigree and comparisons with Objects probably manufactured in Batavia see
https://antiqueeuropeanfiligree.blogspot.com/2023/09/chinese-jewelled-silver-and-silver-gilt.html
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