Pair of Floral Cloisonné Chinese Vases

Description

Floral cloisonné Chinese vases carry within them centuries of accumulated craft. A pair that holds its own weight in a room, commanding attention not with noise but with the density of color fired into copper.

Cloisonné has been produced in China since the Yuan Dynasty, reaching its apex under the Xuande Emperor in the fifteenth century. The technique arrived via Silk Road contact with Byzantine enamelwork, then was wholly absorbed and refined across six hundred years in imperial Beijing workshops. These vases continue that lineage: a copper body receives hand-bent brass wire strips that define each cell of the floral pattern, which are then filled with vitreous enamel paste and fired multiple times. Lotus and peony motifs carry specific meaning within the Chinese visual tradition, representing purity and abundance.

Each vase stands approximately 30 centimeters tall. The copper body is light enough to lift with one hand yet carries perceptible substance. After firing, the surface is ground flat and burnished until the brass wire edges and enamel planes are flush, then polished to a gentle sheen. The deep cobalt ground holds consistent across both pieces; small variations in enamel tone are the mark of hand production, not imperfection. The mouth is wide enough to accept a single stem. A pair, not two identical objects: matched in pattern, individual in character.

Pair of Chinese cloisonné vases. Copper body with brass wire cloisons and vitreous enamel. Floral motifs: lotus and peony. Height approximately 30 cm each. Handcrafted in Beijing. Sold as a matching pair.

Cloisonné at this fidelity takes weeks per pair. The color does not fade. An heirloom from the first day it enters a home.