Featured Straits Chinese Silver Vase

Or at least, that's what it was sold to me as!



It doesn't have any marks, but certainly seems to fit the Peranakan style. Natural themes of flowers and leaves, pierced outer vase with smooth, cylindrical inner trumpet-sleeve with flared mouth and base. 800 silver, second half of the 1800s, I was told.

What do we think, folks? Peranakan silver?

I intend to get it XRF tested later this week. I also did a rare-earth magnet test and found no sticking, so it's definitely not some sort of plated steel thing passing itself off as silver, but that's all I know for sure, for the time being.

Either way, it was cheap, or I wouldn't have taken a chance on it.

Fully assembled, it measures 7 inches tall, and weighs 139.7g.

 

Information from the seller was as follows:


A Very Rare Peranakan Straits Silver Vase with Applied Repousse Decoration of Floral Motifs and Patterns

Period: 1850 - 1920
Type: Hand Forged Silver Repousse Silver Vase
Colour: Silver
Primary Material: 800 Standard Silver (800/1000)
Country: Peranakan Straits
Original/Reprint/Reproduction: Original
Dimensions: Height: 18cm Width: 8.5cm (widest part)
Weight: 140g
Provenance: From an Australian Collection Of Asian Arts and Crafts.

 

Not European for sure. I'd have believed them too, but I only know what @Any Jewelry has taught me.

 

After a lot of close examination, I have no reason to believe that it isn't silver, but I'll take it to the local gold-buyers' later on to get them to give it a scan, just in case.

 

You lucky guy! Yes, I agree it is Peranakan/Straits Chinese. You can see the Malay - Indonesian style, but with that little difference that convinces me it is Peranakan.
As for the period, I would think ca 1890-1920, no earlier, but still antique.

Neither have I.

 

Wonder if that would count as a posy holder - the trumpet meant to be hand held. What does the inside of the lower portion look like? The description said repousse, but is it cast?

 

I don’t think that it is repousse?? Cast is more likely.
It was the incredible amount of intricacy in the decorations on the outer sleeve, and the piercework that convinced me it was Peranakan. Peranakan decorations are famous for their crazy detail. I think it’s just charming!!

 

Hey Dave. I got the same reaction from the magnet from pieces of known, marked silver as I did with the vase. I’m going to get the vase checked tomorrow.

 

The verdict is in: nickel-silver. Somehow I half-expected that.

Thank god I didn’t pay a bundle for it!

This is why I stick with hallmarks.