Japanese cloisonné enamel vase signed Ōta Toshirō of Nagoya Meiji period

Japanese cloisonné enamel vase worked in silver wire decorated with a writhing dragon on a midnight blue ground. The dragon’s sinuous movement is accentuated by surrounding flames and finely detailed scales, claws, whiskers, and horns. The neck with a stylised floral motifs and the foot with a band of lappets with tomobako wood storage box. The base stamped with the two characters within a tripod incense-burner mark of Ōta Toshirō of Nagoya, Meiji period 1868-1912.

The dragon (tatsu 辰/ryū 龍) is one of the twelve Zodiac signs and is a water deity symbolic of power, wealth and prosperity. The mythological animal has three claws on each foot, while the Chinese dragon has four or five claws. Dragon motifs are found in Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines and are often represented holding the sacred jewel in their fore claw, suggestive of the many legends that enrich Japanese mythology.

Reference: ‘The Art of Japanese Cloisonné Enamel: History, Techniques and Artists, 1600 to the Present’, by Frederich T. Schneider, North Carolina, 2010, pg. 253 no. 165.  

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