Shape Number: 1656
Height: 23″
Designed by Christopher Dresser
This vase draws on a mixture of sources. Its shape is broadly that of a classical amphora but the high handles enclosing rosettes are those found on Greek volute kraters. The decoration is inspired by Chinese cloisonné enamelled metal vessels of the Ming dynasty, the colours copied more or less accurately, but with gilding taking the place of the gilt-brass of a Chinese vessel. The face, however is taken not from Chinese enamel but from ancient Chinese bronzes with low relief decoration, here transformed into a two-dimensional motif. The immediate source for this was probably Owen Jones’s ‘Examples of Chinese Ornament: Selected from Objects in the South Kensington Museum and Other Collections’, a series of colour lithographs published in 1866.
Dresser’s drawing and shape photo are from The Minton Archive.