672 - Cloisonné bottle vase, bird and flowering branches on black cloud ground, probably China, 20th c.

Cloisonné bottle vase, bird and flowering branches on black cloud ground, probably China, 20th c. Base metal and enamel, cloisonné vase in bottle form with globular body, tall waisted neck and flared lip, probably China, 20th century, unmarked, black ground with dense cloud pattern of fine wires, on it a flying red-orange bird among flowering branches with pink, white and yellow blossoms and a large trumpet-shaped pink flower with three-lobed green leaves, ruyi borders at shoulder and lip, scale bands at the base of the neck and the foot, lip, neck ring and foot ring gold-coloured, base enamelled blue, good condition commensurate with age, metal rubbed, H. 18.5 cm. 360-degree photo available on our website. In cloisonné, thin metal wires are soldered onto the metal body, the fields between them filled with coloured glass fluxes, fired, ground and polished. In China the technique has been at home since the early Ming period; the Chinese name jingtailan goes back to the Jingtai era (1450 to 1457), regarded as the high point of Chinese enamel art. The preferred motifs of Chinese cloisonné work include dragons, flowers of the seasons and other nature motifs; birds among flowering branches are part of the usual decor of such table vases.