The Yongzheng reign had the most refined eye of the Qing, and its painted enamel shows it. This covered jar is dressed in a tied-cloth design, the enamel p…
Yongzheng-mark painted enamel covered jar with tied-cloth design Read More »
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 »
