A Chinese Blue and White Landscape Washer

D 8 3/4" H 3 1/8" (22.5 cm x 8 cm)

Wang Zhan Yuan (1861-1934) was a Chinese military general and a Lieutenant General of the Republic of China. He graduated from the Beiyang Military Academy. In 1895, he joined Yuan Shikai's Beiyang New Army and steadily rose through the ranks. He eventually became the Governor of Hubei Province. After Yuan Shikai's death, he joined the warlord faction known as the Zhili Clique. In 1926, after Sun Chuanfang was defeated by the Northern Expeditionary Army, Wang Zhan Yuan settled in Tianjin.

After retiring from the military, Wang Zhan Yuan invested heavily in real estate in Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Baoding, and other places. He owned approximately three thousand rental properties in Tianjin alone. In addition, he also invested in various industries, including finance, mining, textiles, grain, and electricity. He monopolized military supplies, traded in gold, smuggled copper coins, and stored a large amount of money in foreign banks, becoming a famous industrialist. The Yihe Silver Bank was originally established by Wang Zhan Yuan's associate, Ni Shaoyong, in Hankou. It was initially called Qianfenghou Silver Bank but later relocated to Tianjin along with Wang Zhan Yuan.

Wang Zhan Yuan stored a large collection of items in the warehouse of the Yihe Silver Bank in Tianjin. He later sold some of the collection to the then French Ambassador to China, Aimame-Joseph de Fleuriau (1870-1938). Aimame-Joseph de Fleuriau served as the French Ambassador to Beijing from 1921 to 1924 and was awarded the title of Grand Officier der Ehrenlegion (Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor). After his death on January 19, 1938, in Ismailia, an obituary was published about him in The Times. Since then, this collection has been preserved by the Fleuriau family and has been exhibited in France. The items still retain the labels from the Yihe Silver Bank in Tianjin and the French exhibition.