A very unusual design of white rabbits, ears erect among the horse-tail grass against an autumn dusk color background from the Ando Shippo Cloisonne Studio of Nagoya. It is performed in silver wire cloisonne, with a silver rim and base ring, signed on bottom with the Ando seal. The vase is 15 cm (6 inches) diameter, 30.5 cm (12 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
The Ando Cloisonne Company originated in Nagoya as the Murata-ya pipe shop before turning to cloisonné in 1880, initially as a dealer and from 1890 as a manufacturer, following its absorption of elements of the defunct Dai-Nippon Shippo Seizo Kaisha and the recruitment of Sataro Kaji—grandson of Tsunekichi Kaji, an originator of the Owari cloisonné tradition—as factory manager. That same year Andō opened a Tokyo branch in Ginza, and in 1900 it was appointed purveyor to the Imperial Household, exhibiting at the Paris Exposition of 1900, the Glasgow Exhibition of 1901, and other world fairs. Rising to prominence during the “Golden Age” of Japanese cloisonne (c. 1890–1910), the firm became one of the leading producers of high-quality enamelwork, and examples from the Meiji era onward are now held in major collections worldwide, including the Walters Art Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum.
