Limited Masterworks Vase Wisteria at Sunset

Chinese culture attaches great significance and power to many commonplace items, be they signs, symbols, shapes or colors. The Chinese porcelain artist Zhuoyu Hou repeatedly and captivatingly merges the influences of her Far Eastern homeland with the history and tradition of Europe's oldest porcelain manufactory in her works for MEISSEN. The vase's intensely colorful decoration conveys the romantic atmosphere of a warm summer evening. A golden sunset shimmers through the branches and pendulous blooms of wisteria vine, with three black-throated tits flitting about. Painted on the body of the vase in a classic naturalistic style, the leafy tendrils mutate into a diagrammatic rendition of golden leaves and branches on the neck of the vase. The sky and rocky outcrops glow in a lush hard-fire blue, the brilliance of which only materialises after firing and forms a wonderful contrast to the semi-matt gilt of the ground. The vase shape with eight corners and eight flat facets is also most engaging. The number eight is considered the luckiest number in China, as it sounds like the Chinese word "fa", which means wealth, happiness and prosperity. The vase's eight plain faces vary in width, which makes for constantly shifting perceptions of its proportions as a function of the angle from which it is beheld. Viewing the vase from different perspectives is a sensuous delight.