A rectangular cloisonné enamel pictorial panel depicting a lotus pond. A heron wades through the pond, its head turned back to look at a large butterfly. On the left hand side, a multi-coloured bird is sitting on a large branch of red and white peonies, looking up at its mate, who appears from behind a blossom.

In the foreground on the right hand side, a large brown bird sits on a flowering peony branch, watching an insect flying above. The top right hand corner depicts a crane in flight. The turquoise background of the panel is composed of interlocking circles that form six-petalled flowers. The panel is contained within a border of meandering lotus flowers on a lapis-lazuli ground.

Pictorial panels in cloisonné enamel first appear in the late Ming dynasty, around 1600. Panels of this large size are rare, as is the lotus pond as subject matter. It has been suggested that such panels were inserted in pieces of furniture or in decorative moveable objects such as screens.1 Several such panels are in the Uldry collection; one of similar size depicts a park scene.2 A smaller panel in the same collection has a comparable scene of birds in a pond setting; its background also consists of interlocking circles, and it has a similar border of scrolling lotus flowers.3 Two pictorial panels in the Linden Museum, Stuttgart retain their original wooden stands, perhaps indicating the original usage of such panels.4

1 Brinker, H.and Lutz, A Chinese Cloisonné, the Pierre Uldry Collection Asia Society Galleries, New York, 1989, page 121
2 Ibid, no. 151
3 Ibid, no. 156
4 Avitabile, Dr. G.G. Die Ware aus dem Teufelsland, Hanover 1981, cat. nos. 79-82, pp.148-153