page_title: Vitreous enamel
section_title: Techniques of artistic enameling
hierarchical_section_title: Vitreous enamel / Techniques of artistic enameling
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Ein altes Emaille-Straßennamensschild in Ilmenau (Thüringen). English: An old enamel street sign in Ilmenau (Thüringen).
context_page_description: Vitreous enamel, also called porcelain enamel, is a material made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between 750 and 850 °C. The powder melts, flows, and then hardens to a smooth, durable vitreous coating. The word comes from the Latin vitreum, meaning "glass".
  Enamel can be used on metal, glass, ceramics, stone, or any material that will withstand the fusing temperature. In technical terms fired enamelware is an integrated layered composite of glass and another material. The term "enamel" is most often restricted to work on metal, which is the subject of this article. Essentially the same technique used with other bases is known by different terms: on glass as enamelled glass, or "painted glass", and on pottery it is called overglaze decoration, "overglaze enamels" or "enamelling". The craft is called "enamelling", the artists "enamellers" and the objects produced can be called "enamels".
  Enamelling is an old and widely adopted technology, for most of its history mainly used in jewelry and decorative art. Since the 18th century, enamels have also been applied to many metal consumer objects, such as some cooking vessels, steel sinks, and cast-iron bathtubs.
context_section_description: The three main historical techniques for enamelling metal are:
  Cloisonné, French for "cell", where thin wires are applied to form raised barriers, which contain different areas of (subsequently applied) enamel. Widely practiced in Europe, the Middle East and East Asia.
  Champlevé, French for "raised field", where the surface is carved out to form pits in which enamel is fired, leaving the original metal exposed; the Romanesque Stavelot Triptych is an example.
  Painted enamel, a design in enamel is painted onto a smooth metal surface.  Limoges enamel is the best known type of painted enamel, using this from the 16th century onwards.  Most traditional painting on glass, and some on ceramics, uses what is technically enamel, but is often described by terms such as "painted in enamels", reserving "painted enamel" and "enamel" as a term for the whole object for works with a metal base.
  Variants, and less common techniques are:
  Basse-taille, from the French word meaning "low-cut". The surface of the metal is decorated with a low relief design which can be seen through translucent and transparent enamels. The 14th century Royal Gold Cup is an outstanding example.
  Plique-à-jour, French for "open to daylight" where the enamel is applied in cells, similar to cloisonné, but with no backing, so light can shine through the transparent or translucent enamel. It has a stained-glass like appearance; the Mérode Cup is the surviving medieval example.
  Ronde bosse, French for "in the round", also known as "encrusted enamel". A 3D type of enamelling where a sculptural form or wire framework is completely or partly enamelled, as in the 15th century Holy Thorn Reliquary.
  Grisaille, version of painted enamel, French term meaning "in grey", where a dark, often blue or black background is applied, then a palescent (translucent) enamel is painted on top, building up designs in a monochrome gradient, paler as the thickness of the layer of light colour increases.
  En résille (Émail en résille sur verre, French for 'enamel in a network on glass,') where enamelled metal is suspended in glass. The technique was briefly popular in seventeenth-century France and was re-discovered by Margret Craver in 1953. Craver spent 13 years re-creating the technique.
  Other types:
  Enamelled glass, in which a glass surface is enamelled, and fired to fuse the glasses.
  Stenciling, where a stencil is placed over the work and the powdered enamel is sifted over the top. The stencil is removed before firing, the enamel staying in a pattern, slightly raised.
  Sgraffito, where an unfired layer of enamel is applied over a previously fired layer of enamel of a contrasting colour, and then partly removed with a tool to create the design.
  Serigraph, where a silkscreen is used with 60-70in grade mesh.
  Counter enamelling, not strictly a technique, but a necessary step in many techniques, is to apply enamel to the back of a piece as well – sandwiching the metal – to create less tension on the glass so it does not crack.
  Safed chalwan, where jewels are set in white enamel
  See also Japanese shipōyaki techniques
caption: Old German enamel street sign
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