Chinese Export Silver Wang Hing 1 Beaker Cup 1900's (02/25/2011)

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Chinese Export Silver Wang Hing 1 Beaker Cup 1900's

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Chinese Export Silver Wang Hing 1 Beaker Cup 1900's

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Sold Date: 02/25/2011
Channel: Online Auction
Source: eBay
Category: Ethnic, Folk & Native American Art

Chinese Export Silver Wang Hing Beaker Cup Dragon Motif

We thought they were all gone but found this one in an unopened box! Offered for auction is a beautiful beaker cup. The exquisite dragon hand-made silver work has great detail. This cup was owned by my grandfather, Julean H. Arnold. The cup is stamped on the bottom with WH 90 along with another mark we believe may be from one of the many artisans that worked with Wang Hing. Wang Hing & Company advertised in 1909 as gold and silversmiths at 10 Queen Road, Hong Kong. Though the Chinese generally lacked an official silver standard for wares, this set carries the voluntary designation for silver content, "90", meaning 90% pure silver.

This silver, while known as Chinese Export Silver (CES), was not really made for export (as were the porcelains, ivories, fine silks, teas and furniture), as Dr. Crosby Forbes, Curator Emeritus for the Export Arts at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, points out. The silver was commissioned or purchased by trading company officials, by sea captains calling at the treaty ports and later by diplomats and other personnel visiting or stationed in China.

Measurements:
Beaker cup: Height 2.5 in. Diameter at top is 1.75 in. at base is 1.25 in. Weight is 56 grams / 2.0 oz. The beaker cup is in excellent condition. Please see the photos for any flaws.

Provenance

My grandfather, Julean H. Arnold, from 1902 and until his retirement in 1940 devoted himself to China and U.S. relations.

Father, Harrison Arnold, was born in China on October 30, 1909 and after graduating college returned there working for Ford Motor Company’s export division.

My father’s brother, Julean Arnold – yes the same name as grandfather without the middle name – was born in China in 1915 and devoted more than 20 years to the U.S. State department and served in Brazil , Paris , and Saigon .

Mom and Dad traveled to China in 1950 and after their return to Hawaii , I was born in April of 1951.

Grandfather: Julean H. Arnold – Biographical Notes

1876, July 19

Born, Sacramento , California

1902

B.S., University of California-Berkeley , College of Commerce

In the early 1900s the University’s new College of Commerce (now the Hass School of Business) trained students for export trade with the Orient and funneled graduates into industries and businesses throughout the state. During the same period a foreign service training program was developed in response to State Department concerns about the poor quality of consular personnel.

Julean Arnold was the first student interpreter appointed by the U.S. government to the U.S. delegation in Peking in 1902.

1904-1914

U.S. Consular Service in China :
1904 U.S. Vice Consul in Dalny (Dalian)
1906 U.S. Vice Consul in Foochow (Fuzhou)
1908-1912 U.S. Consul in Amoy (Xiamen)
1912-1914 U.S. Consul in Chefoo (Yantai)
1914 U.S. Consul General in Hankow (Wuhan)
U.S. Consular Service in Taiwan :
1906-1908 U.S. Consul in Tamsui (Tan-shui)

1914-1917

U.S. Commercial Attaché in China and Japan

1917-1940

U.S. Commercial Attaché in China

1915

Founder, American Chamber of Commerce, Shanghai

1915

Delegate, Pan-Pacific Commercial Conference, Honolulu

1916

Founder , China Club of Seattle

1918, 1922, 1926-1927

Chairman, American Delegation to China Tariff Revision Commission, Shanghai

1926

Author , China , A Commercial and Industrial Handbook

1928

Author, Some Bigger Issues in China 's Problems

1932

Author , China Through the American Window

ARNOLD, Julean (Herbert) (1876-1946) Consul, born July 19, 1876 in Sacramento , California . Arnold graduated from the University of California . He was the first student interpreter appointed by the U.S. government to the U.S. delegation in Peking in 1902. He was consul...