Adrien von Ferscht, who spoke to the Edinburgh Branch of the SCA on 11 December 2012 on his specialist topic of Chinese export silver, and who is now a Fellow (Arts & Culture) at the Asia Scotland Institute, is developing a wide research spectrum on the substantial involvement of Scottish merchants and gentry in the creation of the China trade in the 18th Century, and its subsequent expansion and development through the 19th Century. This body of work spans several disciplines that include socio-anthropology, history, history of art, global politics and economics, and views the subject from a totally new perspective.

He has recently published two very interesting articles drawing on this research, which we introduce here.

The longest running gentleman’s agreement in the history of world trade

As Adrien writes, “China, the largest nation on earth and one of the smallest nations in Europe, Scotland, have had a remarkably special relationship that, on the face of it, may seem highly unlikely but it has lasted longer than Scotland’s union with England. Two crucial factors come together to form the glue for this bond; trade and a synergy of mindset.

His introductory article gives an overview of the timeline of events that created this unique and enigmatic relationship, using the iconic image of the Haig Dimple whisky bottle and Chinese export silver as the unlikely catalysts that demonstrate remarkably well how the Scots and the Chinese found a common bond and kept it for almost three centuries. The article is based on excerpts from the much larger body of work that will be published late 2014 and is carried out under the auspices of the Asia Scotland Institute.

As Adrien continues, “Towards the end of the 19th century a quite remarkable and seemingly incongruous phenomenon began to manifest itself in Hong Kong and in Chinese cities that either had significant international communities or where a more Western lifestyle was de rigueur among the Chinese. The phenomenon in question was a whisky bottle; not just any whisky bottle, but one that was a sensation in itself – the Haig Dimple bottle. To understand how this happened, we have to first travel back in history some 162 years to Gothenburg in Sweden; it is a complicated tale that involves at least three nationalities, two of whom mainly comprised of refugee communities”. To read Adrien's full article, see his website here.

Chinese export silver - the Glasgow connection

The second article is a very interesting new review of the connections between Glasgow and Canton (now Guangzhou) and the export silver trade. This includes the Chinese links of Glasgow tea merchants Liptons and the city's silversmith Edward & Sons.

As Adrien writes, "nineteenth century Glasgow was the 'Second City of the British Empire'. Since the 18th century, Glasgow and Canton shared so many similarities in addition to their common denominator the China Trade, without which neither city would have existed, let alone flourished".

"The China Trade itself would probably not have existed in the form it did had it not been for the involvement of the Scottish gentry and merchants - Scots were by far the most dominant nation in the China Trade and trade with the East Indies ; in fact, the East India Company would not have been so powerful and the British the major force in the opening up of China to foreign trade in the 19th century had it not been for the Scots".

"The tea trade and the opium trade caused Glasgow to survive the downturn in the West Indies and American trade ; the Clyde ship-building yards thrived on the building of China Clipper vessels. The Scots’ affinity with the Chinese fuelled a fascination for all things oriental ; the Glasgow Royal Warrant silversmith Edward & Sons was one of the few silversmiths who officially imported Chinese Export Silver items from Wang Hing & Company, hallmarking them with the their Glasgow silver mark alongside that of Wang Hing, showing them in their Glasgow and London stores as well as a succession of vast International Exhibitions held in Glasgow to which the world came".

To read Adrien's full article, see his website here.