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Ekington's Cloisanne Enamels Art Print Wilms, A. 16 in. x 20 in. Buy at AllPosters.com Framed Mounted Enamel consists of a glass flux, coloured with metallic oxides. The earliest known form of enamelling was practised in Ancient Egypt and, above all, amongst the Celts and Saxons between the 3rd and the 1st centuries B.C.: a red enamel was simply poured into grooves which had been made in the metal. When these grooves are enlarged into hollows, we speak of champlevé enamel. This technique, already known to the Romans, was brought to a high state of perfection in the 12th and 13th centuries, especially in the regions round Cologne, Trèves, Verdun and Limoges (reliquary pendants). A great variety of colours was added to the glass flux. The design is formed by ridges of metal that have been left standing between the hollows. By contrast, the metal is left intact in the cloisonné technique, where strips of metal are welded to the base, following the outlines of the figures.
The cells (cloisons) formed by these strips are then filled with the enamel. This was the principal method used by Byzantine artists especially during the 10th and 11th centuries. In the cloisonné of Eastern European popular art the metal strips are replaced by silver wire. Another technique of enamelling on silver, the basse-taille process, developed in Italy from the 14th century onwards. The drawing was cut into a silver plate and everything was then covered in transparent enamels. Another process known since Renaissance times used the so-called Grisaille or 'painter's enamel', which cannot be considered a true enamel, since the picture is simply painted on its enamel background with a brush -- as ordinary colours are on a panel or canvas -- and fired. It was Limoges that led in this technique (Limoges enamels of the 16th century and earlier), as it had in the case of champlevé enamel in the Middle Ages. Later, miniature paintings on a white enamel ground became very popular. Our own age has shown an increasing interest in the older techniques and has brought them to life again.
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