Here's something you don't see every day. 
 
This beautiful Persian vase, dating to 17th century or earlier, has been rescued at some point in it's life by the 15th century Japanese technique known as kintsugi, (literally, "Golden Joinery"). As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise. Using powdered gold mixed with lacquer to restore broken ceramics (and even replace whole missing parts), it is in the Japanese tradition of wabi sabi, a Buddhist world view centred on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. 
 
The pot itself will have always been beautiful. The design has a strange, ethereal, almost surreal feel with ducks or swans gliding through an abstract landscape executed with tremendous confidence and flair. The fritware body (made from adding glass to the clay) has a unique, pink tinge and multiple firing errors (resulting from an uncontrolled kiln) have given it a wonderful crazed, cracked, bumpy, textured surface. With the gold repairs, this is a genuinely unique piece of Iranian/Japanese art. 31cm/12 inches
 
Condition:
Extensively repaired, as per images. There looks to be some pottery missing from the top. Maybe the shoulders just continued up to a smaller opening, but it likely had some kind of small mouth on a short neck, similar to a Chinese Meiping vase. The kintsugi repairs themselves appear very old, with surface wear to the gold and exposed cracks. When examined from the inside however, the lacquer repairs are still strong. It can be picked up and handled confidently but carefully, nothing seems loose. There is a hole to the base, this seems deliberate and is similar to holes found on Muromachi period Seto Ware, their purpose is unknown.
 
Plenty more images here, please take a look.
 
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