Enamelling

“ There has, moreover, taken place an extended revival of enamelling, an art which offers abundant opportunities for the exercise of the decorator's skill and fancy. It is worthy of remark that our artists' imagination in jewellery seldom degenerates into any great extravagance. ”

“ The art of enamelling, which had reached a high degree of perfection in the Roman era, was refined upon in the middle ages, and ultimately its character was so much altered thereby that it ended in rivalling painting, rather than retaining its own particular features, as all arts should do. It may be fairly considered that originally it was used simply to enrich, by vitrified colour, articles of use and ornament. Metal was incised, and the ornamental spaces thus obtained filled with one tint of enamel colour, each compartment having its own. ”

“ It was apparently not long before this time that the Germans began to apply enamels to their drinking-vessels whether of glass or pottery. Mathesius (1562) speaks of enamelling as a new art. ‘The ready wit of man,’ he says, ‘is always finding something new ”

“ They are copies of enamels by Nardon and Jean Pénicaud, Léonard Limosin, Pierre Raymond, Courtois and others. The same artificers also produce copies of old Chinese cloisonné and champlevé enamels, as well as old Battersea enamel snuff-boxes, patch-boxes, and indeed every kind of enamelling formerly practised. It is advisable for the collector never to purchase any piece of enamelling as the work of an old master without having a pedigree extending at least over forty years. ”

“ Pottery as an art doubtless preceded the manufacture of glass, and probably originated in Phœnicia or Egypt, but that vitrification had reached a high degree of excellence more than twenty centuries ago, we learn from Greek and Roman specimens. The discovery of enamels follows, as a natural sequence, upon the knowledge of pottery by the ancients, and necessarily the whole class of vitreous subjects, either transparent or opaque, are equally applicable to pottery, porcelain, and metals.
Enamelling is of three kinds,—cloisonné, chamlevé, and surface enamel painting. ”

“ But don’t imagine that by touching up the surface of your work with punches and hammer, it will gain anything in the relief, for the enamels will either not stick at all, or the surface that you are enamelling will still appear rough. And just as when a man cuts an intaglio he often rubs it with a little charcoal, such as willow or walnut wood, which he rubs on with a little saliva or water, the same you may do here when you cut your intaglio in order to see it stand out better, because the shine made by the metal tools on the plate will make it difficult for you to see your work. ”

“ Another necessity is to keep the enamel thoroughly well mixed by well stirring it every time it is used, as if this is not done the actual colouring matter is apt to sink to the bottom, the ultimate result being that streaky work is produced in consequence of this indifferent mixing of the enamelling materials. ”

“ Freedom in sculpture and painting brought with it a desire to treat enamels in the same freedom, and so we find that engraving on silver and gold, and placing carefully the various powdered enamels in their proper proportions over the engraved surfaces, produced an entirely new and splendid effect; besides, it required more artistic skill to execute this kind of enamelling, and consequently the best artists of the Renaissance were not only goldsmiths, painters, sculptors, and architects, but executed important works in enamels as well. ”

“ To very choice, elaborate, and carefully finished examples of enamelling it will generally be unsafe to assign a greater age than one hundred and fifty years, and, from what has been stated above, the amateur will see that the colours of the enamels afford some slight assistance: the red should be deep and even, with a dull, rather than a glossy, surface; while lemon-yellow, purple, and black in combination are evidences at once of choice ware and of middle-period (1700–1830) manufacture. Another easily detected point is the colour of the biscuit. ”

“ But the circumstance most indicative of art in the making of this bead, is a species of enamelling which has been performed both on the external and internal surfaces of the tube, previous to its being covered by the coarse red enamel. This second enamel is white, and, as the external surface of the tube was not smooth, but in parallel strie or veins, exhibits the appearance of a white vine between the green tube and the red enamel. ”

“ Enamelling has also sometimes been applied in the same way to a porcelain and even to a wooden basis; but the best connoisseurs condemn this innovation as illegitimate, because unsuited to the nature of the material employed. ”

“ Champlevé enamelling is done by cutting away troughs or cells in the plate, leaving a metal line raised between them, which forms the outline of the design. In these cells the pulverized enamel is laid and then fused; afterwards it is filed with a corundum file, then smoothed with a pumice stone and polished by means of crocus powder and rouge. An example is shown in Plate II. fig. 8.
In cloisonné enamel, upon a metal plate or shape, thin metal strips are bent to the outline of the pattern, then fixed by silver solder or by the enamel itself. ”

“ And here it may be remarked that the finer the surface is got up with emery powder and other polishing agents the better will be the enamelling and ultimate finish. The rubbing down being finished, another coat of enamel must be applied and the work baked as before, care being always taken to keep the enamel in a sufficiently fluid condition as to enable it to flow and run off the work freely. It can easily be thinned with a little paraffin. A third coat will frequently be advisable, as it improves the finish. ”

“ The chased metal plate coated with transparent enamel seems to have led the way to the art of superficial enamelling in opaque colours, or rather colours laid upon an opaque ground, whereby the metal plate was entirely concealed. These were applied at first to plates of considerable thickness, in order to support a greater degree of heat, and the surface of the earlier examples sometimes appears embossed, the enamel being laid on so thickly as to produce a slight degree of relief ”

“ It should be observed that enamelling requires the exercise of the greatest care, and will not bear hurrying. Each coat must be allowed sufficient time for the hardening, and the rubbing down must be patiently and gently done; heavy pressure will completely spoil the work.
Materials.—The materials used for the purpose above named are: white lead ground in 58turpentine and the best white lead in oil; a clear, quick, and hard-drying varnish, such as the best copal, or the varnishes for enamel manufactured by Mr. ”

“ A highly polished enamel is passed through the fire a number of times in the process of painting; otherwise it would be impossible to imitate any great delicacy of tint—as the colors are considerably changed by burning. "As the plates are every time subjected to a high red heat, it is obvious that enamels must be the most durable of all kinds of paintings." At an enamel factory for lining metal vessels with a porcelain coating, I saw a woman who has been employed for four years to mix enamel in the consistency of buckwheat dough, and pour it into vessels to form an enamel lining. ”

“ In preparing the ground for enamel painting, there are two things which have been essentially considered in all times and countries. The enamel ground Page 95 must be more fusible than the metal on which it is placed, or else both would melt together. Also the enamel with which the final decoration is executed must be more easily made fluid than the harder enamel on which it is laid. In fact, each coat must of necessity be a trifle more fusible than the preceding one. A very accurate knowledge is necessary to execute such a work, as will be readily understood. ”

“ And when all the preliminary work is carefully done, and all the interstices nicely filled with the coloured enamels, you put the whole thing in the furnace, in order to make the enamel flow. To begin with you must only subject it to a slight heat, after which, when you have filled up any little openings with a second coat of enamel you may put it in again under a rather bigger fire, & if it appear after this that there are still crannies to be filled up, you put it to as strong a fire as the craft allows and as your enamels will bear. ”

“ Then when you want to apply your enamels, having put a morsel of each colour on your palette (the finger palette I described to you above fixed on to the stem of your leaden pear) you mix with every bit of enamel you lay on your work, a tiny drop of this quince-seed-water, the effect of which is to produce a kind of gum which holds the enamels together so that they don’t fall, & no other gum has a like effect. ”

“ Metals are the usual foundations to which enamels are applied, but stone, earthenware, and glass may be enamelled. When one speaks of “an enamel” we understand it to mean a metal that is ornamented by a vitreous decoration fused and fixed to the metal surface by heat. There are three principal kinds of enamels: the “embedded or encrusted,” the “translucent upon relief,” and the “painted.” Some enamelled objects have a mixture of two methods.
The embedded or so-called encrusted kind has two varieties, which are best known under their French names, the Cloisonné and the Champlevé. ”

“ Haviland & Co., who may be taken as a standard, classify their faïences into six groups—viz. cream faïences, which are thus named from their color, and which are decorated with paintings under the enamel or with translucid enamels; enamelled paintings, possessing all the tone, richness and variety of oil-paintings; grand-fire fresco paintings, or exact representations of wall frescoes, and especially adapted for panels or architectural ornaments; gilt enamels, reproducing Chinese lac-paintings or vases of precious stones; Limoges enamels, very similar to the ancient enamels of Léonard Limousin ”

“ In the former the enamels may be said to have played a subordinate rôle. They were used to assist the modelling of a piece; as when a vase takes the shape of a melon with a stalk in brown enamel and leaves and tendrils in green; or they were employed, sparsely and delicately, to enhance the beauty of a cup which owed not less of its effect to the excellence of its pâte and glaze. In the latter—the Lung-ching and Wang-li productions—the enamelled decoration is everything: the quality of the ware itself becomes a secondary consideration. ”

“ Enamel is coloured white by oxide of tin, blue by oxide of cobalt, red by gold, and green by copper. Different kinds of enamel are (1) inlaid or incrusted. (2) Transparent, showing designs on the metal under it. (3) Painted as a complete picture. “Many fine specimens of ancient Chinese enamel were seen in the Exhibition of 1851. They have the enamel on copper, beautifully coloured and enlivened with figures of flowers, birds, and other animals. The colouring is most chaste and effective. ”

“ This painting may be done with a small camel’s-hair brush and when finished should be fired until the enamel fuses. The piece should be allowed to cool slowly and when cool should be charged with a coat or two of clear fondant which, after being fired, may or may not be stoned and polished, as the artist sees fit. If the painting 52requires it, it may be touched up and fired several times before being charged with the fondant, but the fewer times a piece is fired the less chance there is for accidents which may prove fatal to the work of art. ”

“ The Chinese excel in the painting of enamels, but the Japanese do not seem to cultivate this art to any great extent.
Indian enamels are characterized by their extreme brilliance and splendour of colouring, in which qualities they excel the enamels of all other countries. The native enamellers work in the translucent, Cloisonné, and Champlevé processes, and the methods and secrets of their craft are kept in their families. Greens of the peacock and emerald hues, coral and ruby reds, torquoise and sapphire blues are the favourite Indian enamel colours. ”

“ To make enamel. Enamel is thus made: take lead, and melt it, continually taking off the pellicle which floats on the surface, until the whole of the lead is wasted away; of which take one part, and of the powder here- after mentioned, as much; and this is the said powder: take small white pebbles which are found in streams, and pound them into most subtle powder; and if you wish to have yellow enamel, add oil of filberts and stir with a hazle rod; for green, add filings of copper, or verdigris ”

“ The finest enamels undoubtedly are those in which the enamel is used in small quantities, such as in the Celtic jewellery, the bookcovers, and the Church and Corporation plate of the Gothic and early Renascence period, and the early Byzantine cloisonné, such as the Hamilton brooch in the British Museum, and the Pala d’Oro of St. Mark’s, Venice, which was made at Constantinople for the Doge Orseolo in 976 A.D., and has 83 panels of fine cloisonné enamel set in a framework of gold. ”

“ In certain cases, however, the pendants in gold relief, in crystal, or in enamel, are of pleasing, though not particularly original design.
Working in enamel is of course an independent art in itself, and to begin with, I must remark that, as a general rule, beautiful as are the colour effects produced by Viennese craftsmen, it is impossible to reproduce exactly the delicate charm of the original sketches from which the designs are worked out. Very good results can, however, be obtained in what the French call émail à jour, or émail translucide, as well as in the old-fashioned opaque enamel. ”