Antique Chinese export silver trophy bowl with twin dragon motifs, with marks for Tuck Chang, a renowned Shanghai retail silversmith

Beautiful vintage near antique Chinese export silver trophy bowl with twin dragon motifs, with marks for Tuck Chang, a renowned Shanghai retail silversmith. Active from 1870 to 1920, Tuck Chang was the most popular Shanghai retail silversmiths and was the go-to for elites, international sporting establishments and the like. See our website for the full story behind this remarkable piece.

This particular trophy bowl is not only beautifully made with exceptional turned details, hand-hammered details throughout the body and repousse twin dragon motifs, but also features a later inscription for the Yangtzepoo Bowling Club Championship of 1929, with the bowl being awarded to Mr. J.O. Drysdale as runner-up. 

Yangtzepoo is nowadays known as Yangpu, but during the Roaring 20s, a scant 4km from the glittering Bund it became a favourite of the international community, with several sporting clubs built in the area. According to the second edition of the Shanghai Handbook by C.E. Darwent circa 1920, the Yangtzepoo Bowling Club was then known as the Yangtzepoo Lawn Bowls Club, “was formed in 1915, playing in the grounds of the New Engineering works.”

Sadly, much history of that area was lost during World War Two, when the Japanese occupied Shanghai in 1941. From 1941 to 1945, Yangpu was the site of Yangshupu Camp, where internees would struggle to survive. 

Fortunately, the owner of this trophy bowl, Mr. J.O. Drysdale, would survive the war. In 1933, before the war and after his bowling victory, The Daily Colonist noted that he was onboard the Canadian Pacific liner the Empress of Russia, and was at that time connected with the Shanghai Power Company. He escaped the fate of many, having moved to Australia sometime between then and 1943, likely before the occupation of Shanghai in 1941  A Sydney Morning Herald announcement in 1943 of his only son Ian’s engagement indicates that they had moved to Sydney, and sometime between 1943 to 1946, Mr. J.O. Drysdale and his wife moved back to her hometown of Vancouver B.C.

A beautiful piece, hinting at the glamour of Art Deco Shanghai and its prewar beauty. 

Price marked at $2800 AUD. 

Measurements: 205grams. 13.5cm bowl diameter, 8cm height. 

Excellent antique condition, retail of Tuck Chang crisp and legible, maker’s mark lightly rubbed.