Pair of Japanese Cloisonné Mallet-shaped Vases

Pair of attractive Japanese Meji Period (1868–1912) cloisonné mallet-shaped vases. They are decorated with attractive butterfly and floral motifs. Cloisonné is an enameling technique which consists of soldering to a metal surface delicate metal strips bent to the outline of a design and filling the resulting cellular spaces, called cloisons with vitreous enamel paste. The production of Japanese cloisonne enamels had, by the end of the 19th century, become one of the country's most successful forms of manufacture and export.