Discover the arts of the Edo period (1600-1868) from porcelain to lacquer to painting.
About twenty of these bizarre ‘birdcage’ vases are known. Twelve are in Dresden, in the collection formed in the early 1700s by Augustus the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony. It is possible that they were made in Arita especially for him.
The vase was decorated in blue under a transparent glaze, but the central portion was left blank, then painted later with gold lacquer. A wire and lacquer cage was added, containing porcelain pheasants with wire legs standing on rocks made of lacquered wood. The flowers sprouting from the rocks are made of porcelain and the plant stems of wire wrapped in textile.
Impey, Oliver, Japanese Export Porcelain: Catalogue of the Collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, 2002), no. 152 on pp. 120-121, pp. 11, 119, 121, & 208, illus. p. 120
glaze, lacquer, porcelain, underglaze painting
Vitreous coating applied to the surface of a ceramic to make it impermeable or for decorative effect.
Chinese and Japanese lacquer is made from the sap of the lacquer tree, which is indigenous to Eastern China. It is applied to wood as a varnish or for decorative effect. In India and the Middle East, lacquer is made from the deposit of the lac insect.
Ceramic material composed of kaolin, quartz, and feldspar which is fired to a temperature of c.1350-1400⁰c. The resulting ceramic is vitreous, translucent, and white in colour.
Painting applied to ceramic material before a transparent, or monochrome or coloured glaze for Islamic objects, is applied. The technique was initially developed in China.
Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.
Objects may have since been removed or replaced from a gallery. Click into an individual object record to confirm whether or not an object is currently on display. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis, so contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular Eastern Art object.
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