Old bowl with legs, maybe enamel on metal, any info?

[sapphire]

mart, is this any better to work with? 

Probably too small now 

[ghopper1924]

I get that there are metal wires, a key element of cloissone(sp?), but for some reason I agree that it does look alot more like majolica!

[mart]

Much better Sapphire !! Thanks !!  I looked at the enlargement and still do not think cloisonne !! If it is, its the worst I have ever seen !! Cloisonne will have a ping sound when tapped lightly with a metal object !! Take a butter knife and tap the outside of the bowl !!
Got the names wrong !! Majolica is an enameled earthenware or pottery !!

[sapphire]

mart, I'm not familiar with the difference between cloisonne and majolica. I used to have a couple of my mother's pieces from the 30's or earlier (I believe they were either saucers or pin dishes). She had always called them cloisonne, but that could just have been a term she had heard. They were metal form, the entire design was fine wire, the decoration was enamel I assume. The only part that showed the base material was the lip and the slightly raised base (which had the same 'enamel' in the center) and when polished resembled brass. Is majolica also made similar, with a metal form to start and wire 'framework' forming the design?

[fancypants]

Nice little example of Asian cloisonne , to my eyes , jodiejean ...

I'm wondering a bit about the red/pink area of 'trim/accent' work ... can't see any wire grid in sapphires' great low kb pic .

The bird @ the center of the item is a very cool & stylized Phoenix .... looks nearly central-american !

It's also possible that the base metal (not the wire gridding) is bronze .

[jodiejean]

thanks fancypants, I wasn't sure what type of bird it was. And to mart, I am terribly sorry about the pictures !!!! I am  novice!! And I am not sure how to resize the photos!!!

[mart]

No problem,, Sapphire resized the pic for me !!

[mart]

mart, I'm not familiar with the difference between cloisonne and majolica. I used to have a couple of my mother's pieces from the 30's or earlier (I believe they were either saucers or pin dishes). She had always called them cloisonne, but that could just have been a term she had heard. They were metal form, the entire design was fine wire, the decoration was enamel I assume. The only part that showed the base material was the lip and the slightly raised base (which had the same 'enamel' in the center) and when polished resembled brass. Is majolica also made similar, with a metal form to start and wire 'framework' forming the design?

 Cloisonne is a metal frame or base to which the wires are attached then filled in with enamel !! Majolica is a pottery or earthenware that has been enameled !!  It is not unusual to have people get the names confused since at first glance its hard to tell !!  This may be cloisonne and I just can`t see it in the pics !!

[gerspee]

But this is cloisonne and maybe even older as I said in my first reaction . It's maybe handy to look at older cloisonne with google because the value is a lot higher then even with some damage . The Cloisonne on porcelain is called Totai and mostly from Japan . So not called majolica also .

[jodiejean]

i can see a gold color from the metal in a few places, but the majority of the metal looks tarnished and grey /brown in color.
Thanks again everyone for all the info, its fun figuring out the story behind this antique

[mart]

http://www.idcloisonne.com/index.html
This should help you !! Cloisonne was very finely crafted and the older the cloisonne the more skilled and detailed the work !!  I just don`t see a comparison with this bowl !!  However the site I gave will evaluate for a small fee if you wish !!  Could be If you get an evaluation,, come back and let us know what they say !!  Maybe something I am just not seeing from these pics !!

[sapphire]

Went hunting around and found one similar to some of the pieces my mother had. She had told me she had them before she and dad were married, which was in 1940.  I found them to be not as detailed as new pieces (at least not the ones she had), but more heavily enameled than some of the more recent pieces I picked up.

This one is given a date of 1940's

http://www.etsy.com/listing/77328979/vintage-cloisonne-mini-plate-enamel

[mart]

This one was evidently made for export although the seller says something about it being from a time when it was illegal to buy from China !!  Don`t know when that would be,, can`t find it on the net anywhere !!

[jodiejean]

I sent the pics of the bowl to idcloisonne.com.... ......heres what she said......
   
You have an interesting early Japanese cloisonne footed bowl, I would call this a centrepiece for a large table. It is quite old, dating about 1860 to 1880. The crude mat enamels and the colors are typical of this period as well as the background cloud wires being positioned at different angles instead of all going in the same direction, as future cloisonne pieces show. There seems to be quite a bit of oxidation to metal and enamel surfaces which is quite normal. The base metal is copper or a copper alloy with a gilt finish.
 
The motifs have a feminine influence, the bird is the Buddhist symbol for the female element, as well as the Yin, in Yin and Yang, black and white and other opposites in the Asian culture. The floral band on pale green represents the Japanese Empress, a bouquet of three paulownia flowers and leaves. Other flowers are not familiar to me in these primitive styles. The criss-cross bands represents rice grains or food.

Really cool!!! Now I know the story )

[wendy177]

Cool jodiejean great info! I don't know the first thing about cloisonne. Just to clear up mart is correct Majolica is  tin-enameled glazed pottery.