Chinese Cloisonné Box

Description

A Chinese cloisonné box holds the weight of six centuries in its copper walls. The lid opens on a surface of fired enamel and polished brass wire, smooth except where the cloisons rise imperceptibly beneath your fingertip.

Cloisonné became one of China’s most exacting craft traditions during the Ming Dynasty, when imperial workshops in Beijing refined the technique into its defining form. A base of hammered copper is fitted with fine brass wire, bent by hand and soldered into the design pattern, each compartment ready to receive enamel paste. The paste is laid in multiple layers, fired between each application to fix the color, then ground flat and burnished until wire and enamel surface are level. The design on this box draws from botanical and geometric traditions associated with the Qing period, a vocabulary worked by craftspeople in Beijing for generations.

The box measures approximately 12 by 8 centimeters, with a wall height of 5 centimeters and a closely fitting hinged lid. Copper walls are thin but rigid; the lid seats with the slight resistance of good joinery. The exterior carries the full cloisonné pattern, with each brass wire edge visible as a fine ridge between color fields. The interior is smooth enamel. The base is felted to protect the surface beneath. Weight is approximately 200 grams. The object is made to be used: opened, set on a shelf, picked up.

Chinese cloisonné box. Copper base with brass wire cloisons and vitreous enamel. Botanical and geometric motifs. Approx. 12 x 8 x 5 cm. Hinged lid. Felted base. Handcrafted in Beijing.

A Beijing original made without shortcuts. The enamel is fired, not painted. Craft this concentrated deserves a place of its own.