432.
A CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL VASE, HU
Ming dynasty, 17th century
41,3 cm high
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 5227.
The pear-shaped body raised on a circular foot, the shoulders with two gilt metal lion-mask handles with suspending loose rings, the whole external surface decorated in red, blue, yellow, black and white enamels on a turquoise ground with lotus flower scrolls arranged in four horizontal registers, each separated from the other by a narrow stripe with stylized flowers.
The shape of this vase is inspired by bronze and ceramic vessels of the Zhou and Han dynasties, in turn based on Shang dynasty ritual bronze vases. During the Ming dynasty it was extensively used in the context of a widespread revival of archaic shapes.
A comparable example is illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum. Enamels I, Beijing 2010, p. 52; another similar vase but without lion-mask handles is illustrated in H. Brinker – A. Lutz, Chinesisches Cloisonné. Die Sammlung Pierre Uldry, Zürich 1985, n. 183; see also G. Gabbert Avitabile, Chinesische un japanische Cloisonné-und-Champlevé-Arbeiten von 1400 bis 1900, Hannover 1981, nn. 46-48. The very similar vase in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. n. 29.110.12) differs for the presence of a supplementary copper lion mask applied to the lower zone of the body. See also the analogous vase in the Brooklyn Museum, Avery collection (inv. n. 09.438) and the comparable item in the MAK Museum, Vienna (inv. EM 446).
