The Vases: Flowers, Birds and More

They’re big, they’re colorful, they’re full of elaborate detail - and yet, this pair of Presentation Vases may not have been familiar to most guides until one of the two recently showed up in the lobby as the 2026 Art in Bloom signature object. The 5-foot-tall vase will delight the people who attended Art in Bloom, with its flamboyant cascade of flowers and birds on a vivid blue background, but there’s also a good bit of history and skilled craftsmanship behind these pieces which is worth exploring.

Japan, Meiji era (1868-1912) Presentation vases decorated with birds and flowers, 1890's

Cloisonné enamel; gold, silver and copper

Gift of the James J. Hill Reference LIbrary, 2019.142.2

The vases came to Mia relatively recently, in 2019, from the James J. Hill Reference Library in downtown St. Paul, where they had been prominently displayed for over 100 years. They were originally owned by the local railroad magnate James J. Hill, who purchased them in 1906 for his New York mansion. Dating from the 1890’s, the vases were made in Japan during the Meiji Restoration, when Japan was transforming into a modern industrial and military power after reopening contact with the rest of the world. Japanese artists then were shifting their work to meet the tastes of an international market, while at the same time the West was going wild for Japanese art and culture.

You might assume these smooth, shiny works are painted, but no. The vases achieve their vivid coloring and intricate motifs through the use of cloisonné. Cloisonné is a technique of creating designs on metal vessels or other objects by applying a colored-glass paste mixture to enclosures formed by thin metal wires that are first bent or hammered into the desired shapes and then attached to the metal body. Once prepared, the object is fired at relatively low temperatures to create an opaque enamel surface design cleanly outlined by the wires. Cloisonné work has advantages over painting: it’s durable, glossy, brilliantly colorful and doesn’t fade.

Cloisonné is a complicated, time-consuming process that requires great skill in both metal-working and glass making techniques. Though the name derives from the French verb cloisonner, meaning “to partition off”, cloisonné had its beginnings in ancient Egypt and Greece. It gradually spread through the Byzantine Empire, to France and then China. The technique arrived in Japan sometime in the 18th century and artists there who were already experienced in ceramics and metalworking took to it in a big way, refining and improving methods over time.

All of this might make you wonder, how did this piece come to be chosen as the star of this year’s Art in Bloom? Liz Short, President of the Friends of the Institute and a fellow guide, made the selection this year and shared some of her thoughts on how it all came about. She began considering options last summer, and she described the process, which took about three months, as a “full team effort” involving many departments at Mia including Curatorial, Marketing, Facilities, and Registration.

To get started, Short looked into the history of Art in Bloom, which began in 1984. The first signature piece was featured in 1986; in the early years Mia’s botanical prints were the objects of choice and then over time other types of Mia objects were utilized. Short assessed the cultures, parts of the world and art genres that had already been represented and then started exploring the website and walking the museum, looking to “mix it up”. Before long, the vases popped up  and immediately drew her in. Of course, the flower and bird imagery were a given for Art in Bloom, but the brilliant blue color, the sheer size and scale meant to her that “no one has seen anything like these in their daily lives, so these vases will provide a visual jolt, an ‘oh wow’ moment.”  Overall, she felt the Presentation Vases were very much about “sparking joy” and also celebrating Japan, which had not been represented recently.

Beyond the initial visual impact of the vases, an additional advantage she saw was the wealth of detail in the pieces, which could be featured in a variety of ways on Art in Bloom posters, invitations, bookmarks and other marketing materials. Just seeing a small closeup detail on a brochure might inspire a visitor to spend a minute looking closely at the vase itself, hunting for that Mandarin duck or cherry blossom. Her thought: This signature object can provide an “artistic experience” beyond Art in Bloom and help the visitor to make a deeper connection with the artwork, similar to what we encourage people to do on tours.

Once Short had identified her prime candidate, she began the process of getting the choice approved by Mia. There was an early bump in the road in that the vases were currently off view and, according to the all-important museum schedule, would not be back on view for Art in Bloom.  After productive discussions with the Curatorial Department, a compromise was reached: One vase could go on view for the duration of the event. She stressed "how appreciative the Friends are that the curators were willing to let this come back on view and that all of Mia was willing to come together and make that happen - it isn’t a slam dunk by any stretch.”

Now that Art in Bloom has successfully concluded, thanks to the efforts of Liz Short, AiB co-chair Amanda Luke and all of the Friends and guides who participated, the Presentation Vases are back in storage for the time being. But thousands of people have now been witness to their glorious expression of spring - a testament both to the power of Art in Bloom and the power of art.