Enameling

 technique of decoration whereby metal objects or surfaces are given a

vitreous glaze that is fused onto the surface by intense heat to create a
brilliantly coloured decorative effect. It is an art form noted for its brilliant,
glossy surface, which is hard and long-lasting.

 enamelling gives the surface of metal a durable, coloured, decorative

finish.
 Throughout history, jewelry has been made more colourful by the application of
enamels. Similarly, arms and armour, horse trappings, and even domestic
items, such as mirrors and hanging bowls, were embellished with enamel
decoration. Throughout the Middle Ages,
both secular and ecclesiastical objects, such as chalices, cups, reliquaries,
caskets, crosiers (a staff carried by bishops and abbots as a symbol of office),
and spoons, were elaborately enamelled. With the advent of painted enamels in
the Renaissance, tableware was completely covered with enamel, and painted-
enamel panels were used to decorate the ceilings and walls of rooms in the
châteaus of France. Following upon the invention of the domestic table clock
and of the watch in the 16th century, enamelling became one of the most
popular forms of decoration for the dials and cases; by the 18th century, items
of the drawing room, such as snuffboxes, etuis (cases for small articles like
scissors and needles), tea caddies, candlesticks, scent bottles, and thimbles,
were frequently made of enamel.
 Among the objects decorated with enamels in East Asia are vases, incense
vessels, teapots, suits of armour, and sliding doors.
Common Techniques in Enameling
Cloisonne

 In the cloisonné technique, thin strips of metal are bent and curved to follow
the outline of a decorative pattern; they are then attached, usually soldered, to
the surface of the metal object, forming miniature walls that meet and create
little cells between them. Into these cells, the powdered enamel is laid and
fused. After it has cooled, the surface can be polished to remove imperfections
and to add to the brilliance. The cloisonné technique is particularly suited to
objects made of gold, such as jewelry
 Tōdai Temple: mirror back
Mirror back, cloisonné enamel
on silver, Chinese, Tang
Ming vase dynasty, 9th century; in the
Vase, cloisonné enamel on Shōsō-in repository, Tōdai
copper alloy, from China, Temple, Nara, Japan. Diameter
Ming dynasty, 1368–1644; 18.7 cm.
in the Brooklyn Museum,
New York.
Champlevé

 This process is the opposite of the cloisonné technique: instead of building up

on the surface of the metal object, the surface is gouged away, creating troughs
and channels separated by thin ridges of metal that form the outline of the
design. The troughs are filled with powdered enamel and fused. The champlevé
technique requires a thick metal base and therefore is used on copper and other
base metals.
Detail of a champlevé Figure 176: Millefiore
crucifix by Godefroid de glass and champleve
Claire, 12th century; in enamel on a hanging
the British Museum bowl in the Sutton Hoo
burial ship. Anglo-Saxon,
c. 625-660.
Plique-à-jour

 The plique-à-jour technique is designed to produce an effect of a stained-glass

window in miniature through the use of translucent enamels. The technique is
exactly the same as cloisonné enamelling except that the strips of metal forming
the cells are only temporarily attached—not soldered—to a metal base to which
the enamel will not stick
The Mérode Cup, the surviving
medieval piece in plique-à-jour, c. 1400

Bowl with plique-à-jour enamelling on

a silver base. The silver has been cut
into a pattern of stylized waves with
floating chrysanthmum blossoms.
By Namikawa Sōsuke, Meiji era, c. 1900