Cloisonne vase
Japan
Meiji period, 1868-1912
Height 9.5 cm

A particularly finely crafted small oval shoulder vase depicting several standing and flying Manchurian cranes surrounded by flowering shrubs.
The vase shows an idyllic snapshot shortly before the Manchurian cranes were largely wiped out in Japan due to the liberalisation of hunting the birds for the common people. Only strict protection at the beginning of the 20th century enabled the population to recover.