Japanese Cloisonne Enamel Dish. Butterfly. Edo Period. Circa 1850.

Japanese Cloisonne Enamel Dish. Butterfly. Edo Period. Circa 1850. Possibly earlier.

A superb small dish beautifully depicting a red and white butterfly and swirling flowers. The enamel colours are particularly rich in deep purple, terracotta red, indigo blue, dark green and white/ivory. Flower heads distributed across the plate simply rendered in yellow enamel adding contrast. This small dish is extremly rare and represents early Japanese cloisonne work with dark purple ground and considerable thickness of enamel. The reverse similarly decorated with repeating patterns, also with heavy wire cloisonne construction and petals of white / ivory enamel. Heavy quality dish for its relatively small size.

Condition: Excellent original, no enamel losses. Usual small porous firing holes, typical of early cloisonne work.

Dimensions:

Diameter = 15.5 cm

Depth = 2.5 cm