Chinese
Vase, 18th century
Cloisonné enamel on copper, 32.5 x 12.5 cm (12 13/16 x 4 15/16 in.)
Almost three times taller than it is wide, this cloisonné vase is from China. Cloisonné enamel covers the vase’s entire body and neck fashioned by soldering metal to create a design of widely spaced stylized flowers in green, red, white, and blue, linked together by vines studded with small leaves. Comprised of three contiguous portions from bottom to top: a rounded, copper-lipped base that is encircled above with a thin band of white, green and yellow cloud-like forms against a dark blue background; the body of the vase which gently widens as it rounds upward and ends with a brown and then a blue band where it joins the neck; and at the top, the elongated, much narrower neck finished at the upper lip by a narrow band of copper. At each side of the juncture of the body and the neck of the vase, an interlocking chain of three, gilded s-scrolls have been added as external ornamentation.
Short Gallery
Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.