Chinese cloisonné bottle vase, pink and blue dogwood

About this piece

This tianqiuping takes its name from the tall, globular bottle-vase form the Chinese ceramic and metalwork traditions borrowed back and forth from each other for centuries, here worked in bronze and enamelled in a deep burnt red ground. Dogwood blossoms in pale blue and soft pink spread across the surface in cloisonné, the wirework outlines catching the light differently depending on where you're standing — worth turning in the hand rather than viewing from one angle only.

Cloisonné enamelling on bronze reached particular refinement in China from the Qing dynasty onward, prized for the labour involved in setting each thin metal wire before the enamel was fired into place colour by colour. A floral subject like dogwood, rendered with this much restraint against a bold ground colour, sits well in that decorative tradition without tipping into anything overworked.

Condition notes

Excellent condition, no visible damage to the enamel.