Enamelwork | Definition, History, Techniques, Examples, & Facts (2024)

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Also known as: enameling, enamelling

Written by

Hugh Tait Deputy Keeper, Department of Medieval and Later Antiquities, British Museum, London. Author of Porcelain and others.

Hugh Tait

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The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.

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Key People:
Peter Carl Fabergé
Luca della Robbia
Léonard Limosin
Nicholas Of Verdun
Toutin, Jean
Related Topics:
enamel miniature
porcelain enamelling
champlevé
Canton enamel
Limoges painted enamel

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enamelwork, 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.

Enamels have long been used to decorate the surface of metal objects, perhaps originally as a substitute for the more costly process of inlaying with precious or semiprecious stones but later as a decorative medium in their own right. Whereas paint on metal has a short life and, even when new, is overshadowed by the brilliance of the polished metal, enamelling gives the surface of metal a durable, coloured, decorative finish. With the painted enamels of the Renaissance and the portrait miniatures of the 17th century, the technique reached its most ambitious and artistic form, in which the craftsman attempted to create a version of an oil painting, using a metal sheet instead of a canvas and enamels instead of oil paints. This medium undoubtedly has its limitations—few painted-enamel plaques of the Renaissance, for example, are much more than one foot square—but while oil paints on canvas eventually fade and darken, the colours of enamels are permanent. Relatively few creative artists of distinction have chosen to work in this medium, however, and it has tended to be purely decorative.

Few types of metal objects have not, at some period, been enriched with enamelled decoration. 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.

Materials and techniques

Enamel is a comparatively soft glass, a compound of flint or sand, red lead, and soda or potash. These materials are melted together, producing an almost clear glass, with a slightly bluish or greenish tinge; this substance is known as flux or frit—or, in France, fondant. The degree of hardness of the flux depends on the proportions of the components in the mix. Enamels are termed hard when the temperature required to fuse them is very high; the harder the enamel is, the better it will withstand atmospheric agencies, which in soft enamels first produce a decomposition of the surface and ultimately cause the breakup of the whole enamel. Soft enamels require less heat to fire them and consequently are more convenient to use, but they do not wear so well, especially if subjected to friction.

Clear flux is the base from which coloured enamels are made, the colouring agent being a metallic oxide, which is introduced into the flux when the latter is in a molten state. The brilliance of an enamel depends on the perfect combination of its components and on maintaining an equal temperature throughout its fusion in the crucible. The colour of many enamels is achieved by a change in the proportion of the components of the flux rather than by a change in quantity of the oxide. For example, turquoise-blue enamel can be obtained from the black oxide of copper by using a comparatively high proportion of carbonate of soda; in the same way, a yellowish-green enamel can be obtained from the same black oxide by increasing the proportionate amount of red lead.

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Clear flux is also used to make opaque enamels; the addition of calx, a mixture of tin and lead calcined, renders translucent enamels opaque. White enamel is produced by adding stannic and arsenious acids to the flux, the quantity of the acid affecting the density, or opacity, of the enamel.

The heated enamel, after being thoroughly stirred, is usually poured out onto a slab and allowed to solidify into cakes of approximately four to five inches (10 to 13 centimetres) in diameter. For use, each cake must be pulverized into a fine powder with a pestle and mortar; the powder then has to be subjected to a series of washings in distilled water until all the floury particles are removed. The metal, on which the powdered enamel is to be spread, is cleansed by immersion in acid and water. All trace of the acid is then removed by washing and by drying in warm oak sawdust. After the wet powder has been spread on the metal, it is allowed to dry in front of the furnace before it is carefully introduced into the muffle of the furnace (a compartment protected from the flame), where it is heated to the point at which it fuses and adheres to its metal base. The firing of enamel takes only a few minutes, and the object is then withdrawn and allowed to cool.

The various techniques practiced by craftsmen in the past differ mainly in the methods employed in preparing the metal to receive the powdered enamel.

Enamelwork | Definition, History, Techniques, Examples, & Facts (2024)

FAQs

What is the history of enamel work? ›

The earliest known enamelled objects were made in Cyprus in around the 13th century BC during the Mycenæan period. Six gold rings discovered in a Mycenæan tomb at Kouklia were decorated with various vitreous coloured layers fused on to the gold.

What is the oldest enameling technique? ›

Cloisonné Cloisonné is the oldest form of fine enameling. It was first seen in the 4th century B.C.E. as practiced by ancient Greek goldsmiths, who inlaid small, imaginative designs with thin enamel coatings between outlines of gold wire.

What is the history of enameled jewelry? ›

Although the exact origins are unknown, the art of enameling has been practiced since ancient times. Excavations on Cyprus – in the Mediterranean – in the 1950s unearthed the earliest known examples of cloisonné enameled jewelry, dating from the 13th and 11th century BC.

What is the technique of enamel jewelry? ›

Enamels are applied by sifting dry particles onto the surface of your metal or to previous enameled layers. Enamel powder can be wetted and used to fill depressions (champlevé) or enclosures (cloisonné). This technique is sometimes called wet packing. A piece of metal can be enameled on both sides.

What are some interesting facts about enamel? ›

Fun Enamel Facts from Your Erlanger Dentist
  • Tooth enamel is the hardest tissue that the body produces–even harder than bone! ...
  • Enamel only covers the crown (top) of your tooth that is visible above the gum line. ...
  • Contrary to popular belief, enamel is not white; it is translucent.

Which city is famous for enamel work? ›

Hyderabad in South India is known for enamel work.

What is the best metal for enameling? ›

The most commonly used metals for enameling are pure copper and fine silver. The fine silver is primarily used for jewelry because of its cost, color and the advantage of not producing a firescale coat like copper does when it is fired. The copper is the most used metal for enameling for many reasons.

What are the techniques of ancient enameling? ›

Cloisonné – This is thought to be the oldest enamel technique. It involves fusing very fine wires to a base coat of enamel, using either fine silver wires or 18ct or 24ct gold wires. Plique a jour – This creates a stained glass window effect. The most common method is to pierce the cells out of sheet metal.

Which of the enameling techniques is the most difficult? ›

Plique à Jour is very similar to cloisonné but without a backing so the vitreous glass is translucent and we can see through it like stained glass windows. This is the most difficult enamel technique to achieve, and because of its fragility, there are not many pieces saved before the 19th century.

Who invented enamelling? ›

The earliest undisputed objects known to use enamel are a group of Mycenaean rings from Cyprus, dated to the 13th century BC. Although Egyptian pieces, including jewellery from the Tomb of Tutankhamun of c.

Why is enamel jewelry so expensive? ›

Making enamel jewelry properly requires great skill and ingenuity, and the enamel techniques that a jeweler uses can determine whether the piece will look nice and glorious or not. The higher the quality of the craft, the greater the value of the piece will be.

How many types of enamel are there? ›

Commonly used on silver items, it is the process of fusing a thin layer onto a metal ground. There are numerous methods of doing this, with the process having been around for thousands of years. The three main ways of enamelling metal are cloisonné, plique-à-jour and Guilloché.

What is grisaille enamel technique? ›

Grisaille is a monochromatic enameling process that begins with a layer of black (or very dark) enamel. White enamel is applied over the black to make the design and to create various shades of grey by varying its depth and transparency.

What is the guilloché technique of enameling? ›

Guilloché (/ɡɪˈloʊʃ/; or guilloche) is a decorative technique in which a very precise, intricate and repetitive pattern is mechanically engraved into an underlying material via engine turning, which uses a machine of the same name.

What is overglaze enamel technique? ›

The overglaze decoration technique involves painting with low-fired glaze (that is to say glaze that melts at under 1000 Celsius) on top of previously fired medium glaze or high-fired glaze.

What is the origin of the enamel? ›

Enamel or enameloid is found in the dermal denticles of sharks and many early vertebrates, and it appeared there before gnathostome teeth evolved. The ganoin that covers the scales of many actinopterygians is probably derived from enamel.

When did enamelware start? ›

The history of enamel starts as far back as over 5 thousand years ago. Ancient civilizations used enamel to cover their earthenware and jewelry. The form of enamelware that is currently used, and that we all know, dates back to 1760 in Germany.

What is the history of enamel signs? ›

The first commercial production of enamel signs began in Birmingham when Benjamin Baugh patented the process for producing signage named vitreous enamelling in 1859 at his Salt's Patent Enamel Works in Bradford Street.

When was enamel paint invented? ›

Although the technique of painted enamels was probably first evolved by Flemish craftsmen about 1425–50 for the Burgundian court and perhaps developed by Venetian and north Italian enamellers between 1450 and 1500, the supremacy of the Limoges workshops was established by the beginning of the 16th century.

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