Each dragon has five toes, breathing flames, and adorned in chocolate, gray, white and cream with pale pink tongues and blue eyes. And, these are a mirror pair. The blue enamel work appears to almost be a dusky type of turquoise due to the amazing numbers of wire cloud formations. The bases are adorned in multiple humps of dragon backs diving among the clouds. Five toe dragon designs were reserved for royalty of either the emperor's household or his close family.
Four toes for lesser nobles; 3 for commoners. It would be imperial treason for an artist to use 5 toes on something not owned or used by the emperor and his close family. It' s a beautiful vanity or dresser set, close to 100 years old, that's about 6 1/2 inches tall by about 3 1/4 inches wide. Would you use them as candle holders? Minor bubbles and occasional dullness are consistent with very good age; an eye appears to be depressed.No markings on the outside, but the inside bottom of one of the vases has a long list of calligraphy characters. The metal appears to be a cross between brass and copper.
RARE composition; very low price for this quality. This item is in the category "Antiques\Asian Antiques\China\Vases". The seller is "oldsingercolorado" and is located in this country: US.This item can be shipped to United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Denmark, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Estonia, Australia, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovenia, Japan, China, Sweden, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, South Africa, Thailand, Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Bahamas, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Republic of Croatia, Malaysia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts-Nevis, Saint Lucia, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos Islands, Barbados, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Brunei Darussalam, Bolivia, Ecuador, Egypt, French Guiana, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Guadeloupe, Iceland, Jersey, Jordan, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Liechtenstein, Sri Lanka, Luxembourg, Monaco, Macau, Martinique, Maldives, Nicaragua, Oman, Peru, Pakistan, Paraguay, Reunion, Vietnam.