Description
A CHINESE ARMORIAL SILVER FILIGREE AND ENAMEL BASKET AND COVER
18TH CENTURY
The fine lobed hexagonal filigree body and handle decorated with applied floral green, aubergine and blue plaques, the cover with a melon-shaped finial and with a small oval cartouche engraved with the Mainwaring coat of arms, all raised on six leaf-shaped feet, 22cm. (2)
Cf. Chinese Export Art in the Hermitage Museum, Late 16th-19th Centuries, p.146, no.157 for a similar example in the Hermitage Museum collection, St. Petersburg.
The quality of this basket resembles the style of the well-respected Canton retail silversmith Cutshing, who was renowned for creating enamelled and jewelled filigree items for the European and Middle Eastern royal households.