17. The beauty of blue

Many of the earlier vases we have looked at used small areas of blue to brighten up a background of brown, black and dark green. However once it was possible to have large areas of stylish bright blue as a background the design possibilities expanded. Here we have a very attractive pair of vases that use brown, black and blue in harmony, with a range of floral decoration.

It is interesting that the vase does not make use of any ‘strength wiring’ on the main part of the vase – that is, the small spirals of wire used on earlier objects. However it does ensure that all areas have a pretty dense covering of decorative wiring. This might suggest the makers were not yet confident of their ability to have large wire free areas.

Of course one benefit was that the people skilled in wiring were now free to use their skills with more invention. So we have detailed patterns, including leaves and grapes. Notice also that the red circles are now mostly decorative, so they have reduced in size to become design elements rather than structure.

In summary, these vases lie midway between the earlier rather limited designs and some of the later ones discussed in recent posts which became almost too perfect. Here we can still see the hard work needed to produce this lovely art form.

Object(s) 17. Pair of vases height 18.5 cm weight 276 gm (each).

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies. More Information