Freddie Mercury: A World of His Own | The Evening Sale
Freddie Mercury: A World of His Own | The Evening Sale
A large Ando cloisonné enamel vase, sealed with mark of the Ando Company, Showa period, 20th century
Auction Closed
September 6, 08:20 PM GMT
Estimate
6,000 - 10,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
A large Ando cloisonné enamel vase
Sealed with mark of the Ando Company
Showa period, 20th century
the oviform vase with everted neck and splayed foot, silvered mounts, decorated in various coloured enamels and thicknesses of silver wire and musen [wireless], carps swimming in still waters
37 cm., 14½ in. high
Through wireless cloisonné enameling, known as musen [lit. without wire], a group of carp appear to emerge from their watery depths. The vase’s pale blue ground aptly suggests the environs of a pond, where carp are most often kept in Japan.
Realistically rendered, their scales graduate in shades of colour, each varied and unique, which can make viewing such a congregation of carp a visual spectacle.
Freddie Mercury kept his own collection of koi carp in his garden at his home Garden Lodge, Kensington. He found great enjoyment feeding them, allowing them to gather up to the surface of the waters and feed directly from his hand. The design on the vase calls to mind such a moment when carp gather and vie for their fodder in a riot of multicolour.
The Ando workshop was appointed the official supplier of cloisonné enamelware to the Imperial Household in around 1900.