Painted enamel skips the wire. Enamel paste is brushed straight onto a metal body and fired, so the surface can carry a picture as freely as porcelain carr…
Kangxi-mark painted enamel ‘Peach and Bat’ vase Read More »
A duomu ewer is a shape borrowed from the grasslands, a tall pot with a curved spout and a domed lid used across Central Asia and the Tibetan plateau. The…
Qianlong-mark cloisonne ‘Interlocking Lotus’ ewer with inlaid stones Read More »
Translucent enamel is the quiet cousin of cloisonne. Instead of opaque cells, a thin coloured glass is laid over a chased and engraved metal ground, so the…
Translucent enamel basin with Eight Auspicious Symbols Read More »
This ewer refuses to choose one technique. Its gold body is worked in repousse, the design hammered up from behind, then filled with enamel, then inlaid wi…
Qianlong gold-ground repousse enamel ewer inlaid with painted enamel Read More »
A water pot held the clean water a brush was dipped in, a scholar’s everyday tool. The Qianlong workshop enamelled one with twin dragons chasing a pearl, s…
Qianlong-mark cloisonne ‘Twin Dragons’ water pot Read More »
The Kangxi reign revived the enamel arts after the Ming collapse, and this round box shows the restored workshop at ease. A chrysanthemum and a rock share…
Kangxi-mark cloisonne ‘Chrysanthemum and Rock’ round box Read More »
This slender vase is a changluo, used in Tibetan Buddhist ritual to hold offerings of water or grain. The Qing court, which styled itself protector of Tibe…
Cloisonne ‘Interlocking Lotus’ Tibetan-offerings vase Read More »
A brazier warmed a room without a chimney, a portable hearth set on its own feet. The Qing cloisonne version wraps the body in the Eight Auspicious Symbols…
Cloisonne brazier with Eight Auspicious Symbols Read More »
A pair of mandarin ducks is a Chinese emblem of conjugal fidelity, the birds said to pine if separated. The Qing workshop modelled one in cloisonne and hol…
Cloisonne mandarin-duck form incense burner Read More »
A backgammon board is the last object you expect to find in cloisonne, yet here it is, its playing surface enamelled with lion roundels and scrolling groun…
Cloisonne backgammon board with lion roundels Read More »
