Chinese Export Silver 3-piece Teaset, circa 1920, of pumpkin form, decorated with pumpkin vine and leaves on each piece, and a large impressive cicada on the teapot. The finial on the hinged lid of the teapot and also the pull-off lid on the sugar bowl, is in the shape of a pumpkin stem.
The retailer's mark is struck with both LC, for Lain Chang, and the same name in Chinese characters ‘琏璋’ ;and the silversmith's mark is '厚祥' (Hou Xiang).
Lain Chang seems to have been active in Shanghai from 1920-1934, and this teaset must have been one of their earliest pieces.
A pumpkin is sometimes used in Chinese art to symbolise a wish for the owner to have many descendants.
