Cloisonné enamel box

A cloisonné enamel box of circular form, supported on a low foot and with a domed cover.  The upper part of the box is decorated in coloured enamels on a turquoise ground with naturalistically rendered branches of flowers and leaves.  The bottom part is encircled by a more formal band of lotus flowers.

•   This box is unusual in that the enamels have been applied to a heavy bronze base rather than to thin copper, which is more common.  A covered box of cylindrical shape with similar scrolling lotus decoration is in the Uldry collection.1   It has a Wanli mark that incorporates the date 1614.  The decoration on a pear-shaped bottle vase in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan contains elements of decoration that are stylistically closely comparable to the pattern on the present box, particularly in the flowers and branches, as well as the colour scheme.2 The vase is dateable to the second half of the 16th century. 

1. Brinker, H.and Lutz, A Chinese Cloisonné, the Pierre Uldry Collection Asia Society Galleries, New York, 1989, no. 129
2. Chen Hsia-Sheng Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch’ing Dynasties, National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan, no. 9, pp. 76-7