They come for sale at Lyon & Turnbull in London on November 3 by family descent from Alex WV Gibb, who worked as a clerk in China for the merchants Gibb, Livingston & Company.
The firm was established in Hong Kong in 1841 by two Scottish employees of the British East India Company. In 1844, a branch in Shanghai was founded and the firm’s Chinese name, ‘Jinkee’, was coined. In 1864, the firm had branched out at Fuzhou, where Alex Gibb was based, mainly dealing with the tea trade. Both bowls have a collector’s paper label on the base.
Estimate £15,000-20,000.
