Hot Water Urn

1800

Long assumed to be the work of an American workshop, this silver urn bears a mark, “SS,” that is now known to be that of Sun Shing, a Chinese silversmith who worked in the port city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton). Sun Shing made pieces for European and American consumers in the clean-lined, Georgian style practiced by Paul Revere and his contemporaries. Later in the nineteenth century, Sun Shing’s workshop would adapt to changing Western tastes, making heavier, more elaborately decorated pieces and adding more “Chinese-looking” motifs such as dragons and pagodas.