A pair of export silver vases by Luen Wo, Shanghai, early 20th Century.

Luen Wo was a prominent silversmith that operated from various premises in Nanking Road in Shanghai in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the first quarter of the twentieth century. (Nanking Road – or Nanjing Road as it is known today – was then, as its is now, Shanghai’s business shopping road.) The firm was prolific and each piece is invariably of a high quality. It also traded in other items such as diamonds and jewellery.

The Chait Collection of Chinese Export Silver, Ralph M. Chait Galleries, 1985; and Marlowe, A.J., Chinese Export Silver, John Sparks, 1990.