明早期 掐絲琺瑯纏枝蓮紋菱花口碟|Foliated dish with floral scrolls

Art Historical Context

This exquisite cloisonné enamel dish, in early 15th-century Ming dynasty China, exemplifies the imperial workshops' mastery of a luxurious technique borrowed from Western Asia and refined during the Yongle era (1402–1424). just 6 inches in diameter with a delicately foliated rim, the dish features intricate floral scrolls of lotus motifs—symbols of purity and enlightenment in Chinese culture—rendered in vibrant blues, reds, and greens against a gleaming metal body. Cloisonné enamel, known as *jiaotai* in Chinese, involves soldering fine silver or gold wires into raised cells (*cloisons*) on a...