Chinese Export Silver Rosewater Sprinkler, perhaps for the Southeast Asian Market, Marked ‘Gothic K’

This elegant rosewater sprinkler probably was made for the Islamic markets of Southeast Asia. It has a (tiny) maker’s or retailer’s stamp to the underside of the foot – the single letter ‘K’ rendered in a Gothic style. Nothing is known of the maker and items with this stamp are attributed to ‘Gothic K’ in the absence of any other information. Sometimes, it is said that the maker (if indeed it is a maker’s mark) was based in Canton (Guangdong) in southern China, but there is no firm evidence for this. Many ostensibly Chinese export silver items with the ‘Gothic K’ mark have aspects that sit uncomfortably with other Chinese export silver pieces, or they seem more to Southeast Asian tastes. It is possible that this maker (or retailer) skewed production in favour of the Southeast Asian market (as opposed to the European market) or was a firm of local Chinese operating somewhere in Southeast Asia.

The sprinkler sits on a flared foot, has a flattened spherical component where the foot joins the body, and another on the stem. The body itself is rounded and gadrooned in high relief to match the foot. The stem has a further gadrooned band, which otherwise is plain and rises to a rounded top pierced with small holes to allow rosewater to be emitted. The petal-like gadrooned sections on the foot and again about the body are alternately plain and engraved with delicate bamboo and flower motifs. The top of the body is engraved with panels of bamboo and a fine trellis designed probably based on plum blossoms, as well as a small vacant armorial cartouche.

The head of the sprinkler is in the form of a flower with small holes to emit the scented water.

Rosewater sprinklers were used in many cultures but nowhere more than in Islamic cultures. Among the Malays of Southeast Asia for example, such sprinklers were used in conjunction with almost all major lifestyle rituals such as weddings, but also when greeting visitors to one’s house.

The sprinkler is of solid silver and is in fine condition. There is a tiny dent to the mound of the sprinkle head.

 

Above: The Raja Muda of Selangor (Malaysia) welcoming back his father, the Sultan of Selangor, and his mother, by sprinkling rosewater on their hands from a silver rosewater sprinkler, 1959. (Reproduced from Malaya: The Journal of the British Association of Malaya, February 1960).