Five cloisonné-enamel vases


Meiji era (1868-1912), late 19th/early 20th centuryEach worked in silver wire of varying gauge on a midnight-blue ground, the first a rectangular vase decorated with a snarling writhing dragon, unsigned, 15.2cm (6in) high; the second a squat pear-shaped vase similarly decorated with dragon coiled around the body of the entire vase, unsigned, signed on the base Tamura tsukuru within a rectangular reserve, 15.5cm (6¼in) high; the third a spherical vase with three large butterflies, unsigned, 6.5cm (2½in) high; the fourth a hexagonal vase decorated with bearded stalks of purple and white irises, signed on the base with the mark of Ota Tamejiro, 15.5cm (6 1/16in) high; the fifth a miniature ovoid vase with two strutting pheasants, signed on the base in tensho script with an unknown mark Ki 9.5cm (3¾in) high. (5).