Late Victorian Mappin & Webb Silverplate Epergne with Provenance

A late Victorian Mappin & Webb silverplate epergne, circa 1899, the central stem cast as a leafy grape vine in fruit, with two deer grazing at its base, rising to four scrolling arms and a further central arm supporting cut crystal bowls, raised on a platform base bearing the inscription 'Presented / To / Thio Tiauw Siat / on / the Occasion of His House Warming / At / Leith Street, Penang / By / Gan Ngoh Bee / 1899', 72.5 cm high. Provenance: Mr Cheong Fatt Tze (1840-1916), The Blue Mansion, Penang. Private Collection, Melbourne, by descent from the above. Thio Tiauw Siat is the Hokkien name for the Chinese industrialist, Cheong Fatt Tze (1840-1916). Cheong Fatt Tze rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most powerful and influential figures in Chinese international trade and polictics in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The house referred to in the presentation inscription is likely to be 'Le Maison Blue', Cheong Fatt Tze's famous mansion, which stands to this day at 14 Leith Street in the Penang city of Georgetown. The house is now a private museum and still contains many of the Straits Chinese furniture and objects held in the collection of Cheong Fatt Tze since its construction in the late 19th century.