Mixed metal (Japanese ?) vase.

About 6" (14.5 cm) high, weighing about a pound ... no markings.

Beautiful inlay work looks like tarnished silver to me ... afraid to polish it.

The only other similar vase (in both shape and inlaid design) I found was a slightly taller one recently sold in Taiwan at auction - Identified as from Japan ... Edo period.
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/37837081_a-silver-inlaid-bronze-vase

I don't like to just identify an item with only one reference.
Can anyone help to ID this? Anyone familiar with this type of work?

My vase:

 

Pretty! I'm not sure why nobody else has replied yet. Maybe the right person has not been here.

 

Thanks for responding, Fig!
I too am hopeful that someone will recognize the style or work of this piece. Even if it is just to give advise on whether to polish or not.

 

Here's the thing....& I'm no expert on Asian metal, but to my eye yours looks like a more recent copy of the one you found on line.
The black one is elegant & has that sublime understated oriental look.....& yours doesn't.
I realize that's my gut feeling and not very informative.....but it's what I see.

 

Thank you, komokwa. I appreciate any and all opinions about the vase - good, bad, or indifferent - as I am basically clueless ... so you certainly have more experience than I.

When I see something that I've no knowledge of, I buy it so that I may learn from it (as long as it is not too expensive and attractive enough that I can live with it - should it turn out to be something in which only I see the beauty)

Neither the vase from the auction nor mine show much, if any, base wear ... seems odd for items as heavy as this.

 

It does look more Indian than Japanese to me, but that's just a feeling too.

 

I also get a Near/Middle East vibe from it and like the its graceful shape and pattern.

 

How would you compare it to the black & silver one in the link ??

 

Thanks af and Pat for both your input.

When I first picked it up, Japan wasn't even a contender of places where this could have originated ... more like Persia or Morocco - since the inlay reminded me of the mosaic tile work associated with those places. Which is why I questioned the validity of that auction house attributing theirs (with the almost exact inlay design) to Japan.

Oh ... by the way ... I went ahead and shined her up (please, don't scold ... the tarnish hadn't been on there that long ... I could easily get that look back by putting it in a room with my husband for a few days )

 

It reminds me of the "I Dream of Jeannie" bottle without the stopper, of course!

Juli

 

Now yours looks more like the one in the link...??
Which means...........I dunno ???

 

Bidriware.

 

Ooohhhhh Noooooo! It'th woooooined!

Jes' kiddin. It does look like a recent import decorator/souvenir item. Workmanship is only fair. I'm sure it is worth what you paid for it, worth that to you anyway.

 

Yes yes yes!!!!

Thank you anundverkaufen! Mwuah!

That's the magic word! So many similar vases when searched with that word!

You rock!

 

Ha ha .... very funny!

I'll be OK. I do feel sorry for the winning bidder in the Taiwanese auction that I linked above .... paying roughly the equivalent $1000 USD for what looks very similar to mine (my photos are not good at all ... the workmanship on mine is better than it appears in the photos)

 

it looks much better now...

 

The vase is bidri ware and is silver in-bedded into a zinc alloy.

 

You are correct, Fred! Another member had already ID'd this earlier as such, but I certainly thank you for trying to help me! Glad to see that you're still hanging around the forum with us.