A pair of important cloisonné vases, each worked in gilt and silver wire with a complex design of fantastical creatures including dragons, ho-o , stylised fish and a shi-shi, the pale blue ground scattered with panels of geometric motifs, clouds and foliate scrolls.

Unsigned

Height: 30.5cm

Meiji period, circa 1880

This fine pair of vases are illustrated in ‘The Ornamental Arts of Japan’, Audsley, George Ashdown, Vol. 4, Section VII, 1882, London, with a detailed description as pictured below. Also illustrated ‘Japanese Cloisonné‘, Lawrence A. Coben & Dorothy C. Ferster, 1982, New York & Tokyo, fig 53, p.192

SOLD