AN 18TH CENTURY CHINA TRADE SILVER BOWL MARKT 'T' FOR SILVERSMITH TUHOPP

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Circa 1810

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The bowl gadrooned, with geometrical forms along the rim.

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Diam. 15,7 x H. 7.6 cm
Weight 476 grams

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Note:

Tuhopp is the earliest known silversmith working for a western clientele in a western style. The first reference to China trade silver for the American market is found in the indispensable records for the ship the Empress of China on its second voyage to China in 1786. On November 3, John Green paid out $85 to Tuhopp, silversmith, for a “Tea chest made of silver”. The well known Chait collection of Chinese export silver has three Tuhopp items, a coffee pot, a dish and six forks which are all marked with the letter “T”. A superb standing bowl with convex fluting and lion masks and rings for handles in the Peabody Essex Museum, dated circa 1810, which is also marked “T”, testifies to the quality of design and execution of which Tuhopp silversmith was capable. The present bowl can also be dated circa 1810 on the basis of its design with the gadrooning and the Greek revival key pattern along the rim.