December 10, 2020"**Fanghua - Looking at the Social and Commercial Changes of the Late Qing Dynasty and the Early Republic of China from the Export of Silverware".Opening of the China Port Museum. This exhibition is dominated by more than 300 sets of silverware from the collection of the China Port Museum, which is a concentrated appearance of the important achievements of the special collection of the China Port Museum over the past few years, and reproduces to the audience the beautiful beauty of China's export silverware in the late Qing Dynasty. Late Qingming period.
The living patterns of people in treaty port cities.
The transition from traditional to quasi-modern began.
Export silverware became a witness to this modern era.
With the deepening of Western colonial rule, the living mode of citizens in modern treaty port cities such as Shanghai began to transition from traditional to quasi-modern. The material life of citizens is no longer simply to meet the needs of survival, but to break through the traditional values, begin to breed the desire for consumption, and turn to the pursuit of material enjoyment and the improvement of social status.
This way of consumption, whether in terms of "shape, muscle, bone" or "essence, qi and spirit", has been qualitatively different from the tradition. Although this mode of consumption "does not get rid of the negative effects of extravagance and anesthesia, it is full of enthusiasm and has a kind of joyful and vibrant breath of life", which has injected new impetus into the modernization of Chinese society.
Business card holders, perfume bottles, cigarette cases and other export silverware are witnesses to this modern era, and they still show us the legends and stories of that era.
Late Qing Dynasty - **Bamboo finch character pattern with chain silver box.
* Character Shuanglong Fushou pattern silver handbag.
Late Qing Dynasty - ** inlaid jade peony pattern silver bracelet.
* "Yao Tian Shun Day Righteous Pressure Global" style pin buckle silver belt.
Clear bamboo finch pattern (inlaid wood) silver humidor.
* Period living room life scenes.
The mirrors and perfume bottles in the bedroom, the picture frames and vases in the living room, and the stationery in the study reflect the preferences and aesthetic tastes of the people in the treaty port area. In 1908, an English magazine in Shanghai pointed out that the most popular ones are: miniature rickshaws, wheelbarrows, sedan chairs, water pipes, sampans, flat-bottomed sailboats, and textile machines.
Late Qing Dynasty - ** dragon pattern silver mirror.
Late Qing Dynasty - ** floral pattern silver flower arrangement.
Late Qing Dynasty - ** silver bracket shell ornaments.
* People push wheelbarrows with spicer silver ornaments.
Late Qing Dynasty - **Open window flower and bird pattern silver bottle.