26 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
known work of the sort that has survived. 
The Russians of the present day have so 
perfected the process that plique a jour 
enamel is often called Russian enamel. 
Doubtless the forming of cups, caskets and 
other precious objects of gems in unbacked 
mosaic suggested the style, and the famous 
jewelled cup of Chosroes to be seen in 
the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, may 
well be considered a forerunner of it. 
Encrusted Enamel may be defined as 
enamel used to enrich raised and 
modelled gold work where this vitreous 
color is neither entrenched, as in cloi- 
sonne, or in champleve, nor painted, like 
Limoges work on a flat field. The crafts¬ 
men of the Renaissance, both in Italy and 
in France, produced exquisite jewels of 
encrusted enamel, imitated by the Flor¬ 
entine jewelers of to-day who display 
their wares along the shops of the Ponte 
Vecchio. 
Painted enamels in this group may be 
subdivided as follows: (A) Those works 
which have vitreous colors added here 
and there to subdue, correct or to out¬ 
line and decorate enamel surfaces, such 
as the pale yellows added to soften star¬ 
ing whites, red to restore a color unsuc¬ 
cessful in the firing, outlines of plants 
and other forms and inscriptions. Used 
in combination with both cloisonne and 
champleve, and later to add further deco¬ 
rations to baisse faille surfaces. 
(B) Those works painted with succes¬ 
sive firings of translucent or transparent 
colored enamels over a primary enamel 
ground that first has been fused to its metal 
field of gold, silver or copper. Limoges 
enamels are of this sort, whether in color or 
in grisaille, as also are the much neglected 
enamels known as Venetian enamels. 
So much for the general broad divisions 
of enamels, though it must be borne in mind 
that there was often employed in the work¬ 
ing out of a single object more than a single 
process. As color plays so important a 
part in the evolution of the history of 
enamels, the following table will be thor¬ 
oughly useful to the collector as determin¬ 
ing the more important colors of the 
(Continued on page 62) 
Champleve is the process of gouging out 
of a field {champ) of metal a number of 
hollows ( levees ) or “ditches” for the pat¬ 
tern, in which cut-out depressions the vitre¬ 
ous color is fused and becomes enamel. 
It is akin to the ancient Egyptian method 
of cutting out places in gold, soapstone, 
wood and other materials wherein to in¬ 
sert bits of colored glass. Had the 
Egyptians practiced true enamelling, 
doubtless their process would have be¬ 
gun with champleve, for they did not 
anticipate the Greek goldsmiths who 
worked patterns on gold in cloisons long 
before they had any idea of applying 
vitreous color thereto. Indeed, early 
Greeks and Etruscans were wonderfully 
skilful at soldering gold. This process 
might be termed Gothic, succeeding in 
introduction though not superseding the 
Byzantine cloisonne. However, centuries 
before Byzantine or Gothic works ap¬ 
peared, the Celts produced champleve 
enamels. 
Repousse is where the ornament is 
beaten out in silhouette as it were, in 
the metal, and the details marked by 
cloisons let in. Much of this work is 
easily mistaken for champleve, but where 
the pattern is scooped out in champleve, 
it is beaten out in repousse. The visitor 
to the Treasury of St. Mark’s in Venice 
will observe that the placquettes from a 
Gospel cover there were executed in 
repousse —the pattern simply hammered in 
the silver which afterwards was filled with 
translucent enamel. In Oriental repousse 
work the metal divisions between the fields 
of enamel are beaten up, the reverse of the 
process just described. It may be stated, 
on Dr. Bushnell’s authority, that in modern 
Chinese enamel work the repousse process 
has superseded champleve for effects of the 
sort. 
Baisse Taille is the process of engraving 
the ground receiving translucent enamel, so 
that the lines made by the graver would 
show up through the translucent vitrified 
coating, and produce a greater play of light, 
or define pattern, the veining of leaves, 
marking of petals, the defining of draperies, 
etc. The French enamellers of the 18th 
Limoges enamel mirror back by Jean de 
Courteys, depicting the subject of “Venus 
Bathing.” Morgan Collection 
Century habitually employed the effect, and 
Indian enamellers preceded them by at least 
a century, while its invention is ascribed to 
the Italian, John of Pisa, 1286. This chas¬ 
ing or engraving upon gold or silver with 
the purpose of showing gradation in the 
vitreous color to be applied is akin to cham¬ 
pleve. 
Plique a Jour consists of certain screen¬ 
like objects in filigree with their unbacked 
cloison divisions filled up with translucent 
enamel. This sort of work may really be 
compared to stained glass windows, the 
principle being the same in miniature. An 
excellent example of this is the 15th Cen¬ 
tury cup in the South Kensington Museum, 
while the crown of St. Stephen, dating from 
1072 A. D., would appear to be the earliest 
The front and back of a circular dish of enamel painted in grisaille (the flesh slightly colored), and heightened with 
gold. On the raised center is the portrait of a man, around which are scenes in the history of Adam and Eve. In the 
center of the back is the portrait of a lady surrounded by bands of monsters and scrolls. By Pierre Reymond 
