Ando Company

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.