Featured Plique A Jour Bowl

Chinese or Japanese?

 

Don't know if it's Chinese or Japanese, but it sure is cutese!

 

LOVE IT !!! ... Joy.

 

Very pretty! Construction similarities (rim and feet) to this piece: https://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2837T/lots/1044

 

Thanks.

 

It's nice that it footed...

 

NICE find!

 

Gorgeous, and yes, Japanese.

 

Gorgeous piece, but not like any plique-a-jour that I've seen ...

 

'Shotai-shippo' - the technique is a bit different than European plique-à-jour...

~Cheryl

 

I agree, the technique is really not what's called plique-à-jour which is made on a pierced like a cloisonné item , enamel melt on a back support part which is solved with acid and polished, not really the same work as on this really astonihing work of art.

 

Thank you! My husband took a plique-à-jour class and this beautiful bowl didn't work for me as plique-à-jour... but everything I know about plique-à-jour is: "that doesn't look like what my husband learned."

 

I have seen similar bowls that are made with some sort of plastic, rather than glass. I am a little concerned about all the bubbles visible in the uncolored areas. But I have little experience of genuine examples. Is it cold to the touch, or warm?

 

Cold. It’s fired enamel, almost type of glass, so bubbles are normal.

 

Shōtai shippō (省胎七宝) uses translucent enamels applied through yūsen shippō, but the metal is then dissolved in nitric acid

Yūsen shippō (有線七宝) wired cloisonné with silver, a typical technique from Owari province

from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ando_Cloisonné_Company

 

Could it be this:
"Musen shippō (無線七宝) wireless cloisonné, enamel is applied to the body or to the wire while being painted, the wire is then removed before firing the object."
From the site Jivvy posted.

 

If the enamels were applied over metal body, how do you use acid to dissolve the body but not destroy the wires?
Don’t understand the Musen Shippo definition. Enamels are applied to the body OR to the wires.... What do they mean applied to the wires? You still need some kind of backing, right?

 

I don't know if this answers any of your questions (I'm getting a bit lost), but the type of "enamel" most likely used (I think) is "vitreous enamel" -- powdered glass that is fused by firing.

 

The interior should be especially smooth because they start off with a clear enamel over a copper base, the silver wires are set on that enamel, the transparent colored enamels are applied over the wires, then acid is used to dissolve the copper. The wire is visible - this is not wireless cloisonne...

Scroll about halfway down on this page for Shippo (click on 'Works' to see some really stunning examples):https://galleryjapan.com/locale/en_US/technique/otherworks/

~Cheryl