Month: August 2019

There is a well known card game called ‘Snap’ in which players compete to be the first to shout ‘snap’ […]

The previous two vases were influenced by working with a black background. By contrast, this next vase is keen to […]

With the previous vase the difficulty of designing on black with residual spiral ‘strength’ wiring was discussed. This simple jar […]

This next vase is another with a new approach to decoration to those seen earlier. It feels very much part […]

This next vase is filled to overflowing with simple but beautifully executed designs. On one face there are butterflies, on […]

Looking back at Object 27, a vase, one possibility was whether there was evidence of an association with the workshop […]

One of the wonderful things about having a wide range of Japanese cloisonne vases to examine is the possibility of […]

This next vase is full of lovely wirework. It uses fields of blue to add colour, and offers a host […]

One of the exciting things about building any collection is making connections. When the connection is with a ‘famous’ craftsperson […]

The previous vase had four sides, while this is a six lobed vase. As it is of a very similar […]

This next vase is one of two that are very similar, almost certainly from the same workshop at around the […]

Once it was possible to have large areas of background colour without ‘strength wiring’ the design possibilities opened up. Butterflies […]

This next vase takes the familiar Phoenix (Houou Bird) and Dragon theme but implements it on a Ginbari vase. The […]

This next vase is full of skilful designs beautifully executed, but they are easily overlooked unless the lighting is bright […]

These are a lovely pair of vases on blue ground which seem to be both early and mature. That is, […]

The next object is a lovely little kouro 香​炉 (こうろ) incense burner. It comes complete with lid, which most have […]

Most posts so far have been about vases and jars, but cloisonne was used as a decoration on a wide […]

In earlier posts we looked at many examples of butterfly decoration. Often the designs were really simple and yet the […]

Many of the earlier vases we have looked at used small areas of blue to brighten up a background of […]

This is another more modern ‘Dragon and Phoenix’ vase, and one where the Houou Bird will be of great interest. […]

This next vase continues with the “phoenix and dragon” strand. It has a more modern feel than anything we have […]