Pair of Antique Japanese Meiji Period Cloisonné Vases, C.1870

A well-matched pair of Japanese cloisonné enamel vases of classic Meiji form.
Ovoid baluster profile rising to a waisted neck with everted rim, worked throughout on a brass core. The neck fields are glazed in robin's-egg turquoise, scattered with cherry blossom (sakura) roundels in white and pink, and bordered above and below by a continuous red-dot (tama) band.
The principal body fields are set against an intense midnight-black ground and densely populated with a naturalistic kachō composition: large peonies and camellias in white, pink, and powder blue; trailing leafy branches in multiple tones of green, sage, and olive; white berries; and yellow grass accents.
Each vase carries a distinct fauna — one displaying a white swallow in flight, the other a blue butterfly among blossom, a common variation in Meiji paired production. The lower register terminates in a formal kaiki-style fan-palmette frieze in turquoise on a deep cobalt band, punctuated by further red-dot borders.

Very good presentable condition consistent with age; some enamel pitting and minor surface wear to one vase visible at the shoulder.