January, 1916 
33 
THE CLOISONNE ENAMELS OF CHINA AND JAPAN 
GARDNER TEALL 
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T EIE art of the enamellcr throughout the 
ages has ever proved to he a subject of 
.interest to connoisseurs and collectors. 
While exhaustive monographs have been 
written on the subject of European enam¬ 
els, less appears to have been written con¬ 
cerning those of Asia and particularly those 
of China and Japan. This, perhaps, ex¬ 
plains why it is that, though there are a 
number of collectors to whom the Chinese 
and the Japanese enamels appeal, they hes¬ 
itate to specialize in them by reason of the 
fact that little information for their guid¬ 
ance appears to have been easily accessible. 
The real collector, as distinguished from the 
mere gatherer or hoarder of objets d’art, 
finds a great part of his pleasure in ac¬ 
quainting himself with the processes of 
manufacture as well as with the history of 
the things he collects. It is this acquaint¬ 
anceship with the minutiae of a subject that 
enables one to collect with judgment and 
safety. 
Methods of Cloisonne 
The basis of all enamels is the application 
of fusible silicate of glass colored with me¬ 
tallic oxides, all upon a metal ground. 
In cloisonne enamel work a metal base— 
gold, silver, copper and other bases—has its 
design traced upon it, by means of thin 
metal wires or strips soldered to the base, 
forming in this manner a number of divi¬ 
sions which, when filled with the colored 
silicate, subjected to amalgamation by heat 
and afterwards polished produces a beau¬ 
tiful patterned surface, the design of which 
appears traced in metal filaments. The By¬ 
zantine and the Greek enamellers executed 
their cloisonne enamels in gold, as likewise 
did the Anglo-Saxons, Russians, Chinese 
and the Japanese in 
their finest work. 
In the plique-d-jour 
enamels we find what 
is really a variety of 
cloisonne rather than 
a class, as the plique- 
d-jour is cloisonne 
unbacked by a metal 
ground, but much like 
a leaded stained-glass 
window in miniature. 
That is, if one holds 
a piece of plique-d- 
jour work to the light 
he will find it allows 
the light to pass 
through, whence its 
name. 
Champleve enamel 
much resembles cloi¬ 
sonne, but instead of 
its pattern being 
traced by cloisons sol¬ 
dered on a metal base, 
the pattern is scooped 
out by a sort of deep 
engraving, upon the 
metal base, these de¬ 
pressions being filled 
av i t h enamel, fired 
A large ice chest of cloisonne enamel, a 
Chinese Imperial of the Ch’ien Lung 
period (1723-1795). From the Imperial 
Palace in Pekin, now in the collection of 
Dr. Alfred Owre 
and then polished. The Celts, the Persians 
and the enamellers of India worked in this 
manner. 
Repousec enamel is, one may say, a va¬ 
riety of champleve, or at least so akin to 
it that it is seldom considered as composing 
a class by itself, though I think it should 
be. In such enamel work the design is 
wrought upon the metal base, not with 
cloisons as in cloisonne; nor with scooping 
out by a graver, as in true champleve. In¬ 
stead, the design is worked upon the metal 
by hammering out— repousee —the depres¬ 
sions to be filled with the enamel. This is 
then fired and polished, as all enamel of 
any class has to be. Some of the enamels 
of India are such fine examples of work 
of this sort that they have passed as true 
champleve. 
Painted Enamels 
Finally, we come to the painted enamels, 
such as those of Limoges. In the earliest 
examples of the painted class one finds the 
design applied directly to the metal base, 
grain by grain and layer by layer, in such a 
manner that the various fusings and glaz¬ 
ings produce such results as one finds in the 
marvellous old Limoges enamels. While, in 
later work, the enamel is fused upon the 
metal base, the designs being painted (in 
some instances printed) on the enamel. 
This brief survey of the characteristics 
of the different classes of old enamels will 
the better enable the collector to confine his 
attention, for the moment, to the subject 
of cloisonne enamels, and in particular those 
of China and of Japan. Of late years the 
cloisonne enamels of China and of Japan 
have been extensively exported, more espe¬ 
cially to America. Many of these modern 
examples are very beautiful, some of them 
A^ery trashy and none of them comparable 
Avith the beauty of early Chinese Avork, 
though, from a technical point of vieAV and 
an individuality of their OAvn, I fancy some 
of the modern specimens Avould have made 
the 17th Century enamel-AVorkers of China 
rub their eyes in Avonderment. This great 
and difficult art is surely one of the glories 
of Chinese craftsmanship. One might not 
think that the outlook for collecting these 
old enamels in America Avas very encour¬ 
aging. Nevertheless, 
it is a line of collect¬ 
ing that has not been 
overdone, and genu¬ 
ine old objects are to 
be found, here and 
there, by those Avho 
knoAV them when they 
see them. 
One of the most in¬ 
teresting, important 
and extensive collec¬ 
tions of Chinese and 
Japanese cloisonne in 
this country is that 
owned by Dr. Alfred 
OAvre, through Avhose 
courtesy the accom¬ 
panying illustrations 
are shoAvn, a collec¬ 
tion that has been 
loaned to the Minne¬ 
apolis Art Museum. 
There are likewise a 
feAV fine pieces to be 
found in the Metro¬ 
politan Museum of 
Art in New York, and 
in other public col¬ 
lections. As color is 
the very soul of en- 
Japanese cloisonne enamel teapot; Chinese cloisonne incense-burner of the Ch ien 
Lung period; and a Chinese cloisonne enamel bowl of the same period. From the 
collection of Dr. Alfred Owre 
