Amazing Antique Chinese Sterling Silver Natural Salmon Red Coral Bracelet. Offered is an amazing Chinese silver bracelet set with 10 large natural Salmon red coral from the early 20th century. The large 10 pieces coral size are 9mmx5mm The condition is excellent. Total weight is 22.5g. It has the mark of “CHINA” and “SILVER” on the back. Size bracelet 7 14mmwide great addition to your collection Chinese Export Silver always adapted to the realities of Chinese history; it was, after all, a product of that history, as such, it has qualities that no other silver category possesses. Viewed in the overall context of China, it is an excellent indicator of prevailing historical events at any given time; events that were many and fast-moving, particularly in the latter part of the 19th century. That a de-facto ruler of the largest nation on earth could, in 47 years, transform an effectively medieval society into a modern 20th century state is extraordinary in itself. The fact she was a semi-literate woman in a totally man’s world is exceptional. Minds were prised open and this was quickly reflected in all the creative arts as well as in revolutionary changes in merchant trading. For Chinese Export Silver, it meant a move away from its former traditional centre, Canton, to Hong Kong and Shanghai as well as other treaty ports. Previous vassal states such as Vietnam, Korea, Mongolia and Formosa began to create silver that became increasingly divorced from the Chinese style. While China’s age of renaissance was waning, in Europe it was commencing; the Ming Dynasty closed China’s doors while European nations caught up on lost years. Chefoo [Zhifou], Shandong Province in 1861 became an international trading port for Great Britain and 16 other trading nations. From being a backwater historic town, it suddenly became yet another focal point for international trade, the reason why Dr Carmichael was relocating from Canton, the original treaty port in China. This otherwise seemingly insignificant goblet is indicative of quite meteoric changes happening in China in the early 1860’s related to foreign trade and trading rights and indicative of the nibbling into China’s coastline by foreign powers. Despite the fact that the international community chose to conveniently disregard the integrity of China as a sovereign state, the original five treaty ports and how they were thriving since their creation presented Cixi with a blueprint. She was cognizant of what had happened in the first twenty years of Hong Kong being ceded to the British. Cixi took the unprecedented step of confirming an Irishman, Sir Robert Hart, as Inspector General of Chinese Maritime Custom Service. It was a tremendously courageous move to have taken and Cixi remained resolute despite the animosity it caused within the Chinese civil service. Hart remained in office until 1866 and on relinquishing his position he handed Cixi his advice for the next step of her reforms, which included the introduction of countrywide telegraphic system, railroad systems and modern mining methods; all situations presenting the more traditional Chinese with the dilemma of disrupting the geomancy [feng shui] and the ancestral burial sites. Hart had estimated the Chinese coal fields to be probably twenty times greater than the entire continent of Europe. The transformation of Shanghai to a treaty port had a similar impact to the already established silver making tradition in the city. As with Canton, Shanghai had a core element of silversmiths, some of whom dated back to the 18th century, since silver making was very much a traditional dynastic family artisan trade; the oldest known silversmith being Lao Qing Yun. What was particularly interesting was to see how some of the established makers were themselves in a transition, creating silver for the traditional “home market” as well as for the burgeoning export trade. These makers, many of whom were retail silversmiths, were slowly joined by new names as the resident international community in Shanghai and the export trades grew.
