Timeless and time-consuming Cloisonné

A beautiful art form that can take months to create a single piece, yet every moment is rewarded when the finished result is revealed.

Wire and glass enamel, expertly set on a metal base to make cloisonné.

Cloisonné (pronounced kloy-zon-ay) was first practised as an art form in China between 1200 and 1300 BCE. It is possible that the techniques were borrowed from other European cultures, but that remains a mystery. The name certainly comes from the French ‘cloison’, which means cell, compartment, partition, division and this describes how it is made.

Metals

Brass, copper, silver or gold wire is used to create a design and also to separate spaces which are then filled with colours. The wires are attached to a base form usually made of brass, but also silver, gold and copper. They are glued or soldered onto the base. A glue that burns off in the firing process is used, so it doesn’t affect the piece's design. When soldering is used, the zinc in the solder can cause imperfections in the finished piece – bubbling or irregularities in the enamel. This is more prevalent in older pieces from the 19th Century and before.

The turquoise background of this panelled vase is easy to identify as possibly Chinese. The pitting on the enamel suggests it is old, but it is more likely an early 20th-century piece, a combination of cloisonné and champlevé. It’s a lovely heavy piece for the right setting. See more on this piece in the shop.

Colours

Then the colours are applied in the spaces. To create the enamel, ground glass is mixed with various oxides to create each colour. In Chinese cloisonné, many of the pieces included the iconic turquoise colour, which was made with ground glass and copper oxide. Other colours, for instance, white is made using titanium dioxide or tin oxide and red is made with iron and cuprous oxide. These glass and mineral compounds are not easy to blend, and you will see mostly solid colours in either opaque (mostly Chinese) or transparent (mostly Japanese) pieces. If they are blended, they will form a multicoloured texture rather than the colour green, for example, when you add yellow and blue together.

The earlier pieces also had dust and other impurities in the glass that formed pitting, which can be seen here. This also shows the turquoise background.

The ground glass is washed to remove dust, which can cause flaws in the finished piece, and then mixed to a paste with water. Each artist has their own formula for how much water to add based on their years of experience.

Because the one piece can be fired between 20 and 40 times to get the right effect, the base colour is usually the hardest. Also, because of the firing, the base metal is thick so as to avoid it warping.

Firing

Once the first layer of colour is applied, the piece will be fired in a kiln of around 800 °C. The glass then melts into the cloisons, but remains more on the sides as it sticks to the wires. In order to even out the enamel, it needs to be filled and fired several times. Once the glass has filled and spilt over the wires, it will be ready for grinding.

Grinding and polishing

In ancient times, grinding was done with stones to produce a smooth surface and clearly show the wire design. These days, the grinding is done by machine. Once the piece is smooth, it will be polished.

Chinese vs Japanese cloisonné

There are many countries that have a cloisonné industry, some of which, like Russia, can be identified by the styles they use. Russian cloisonné often used twisted wires to form the pattern. The main countries, however, are China and Japan, and there are distinctions in each that can be used to identify the pieces.

Chinese cloisonné

The oldest dates from the Yuan dynasty, 1300 BCE. The first examples were made with bright colours, including the iconic turquoise, which was often used as the background colour. These were seen as pieces only for palaces and temples, so the early ones are extremely rare.

Here are some of the identifying features that you may find on Chinese pieces:

• The enamel is mostly opaque with solid blocks of colour rather than any form of blending colours.

• The wires were often gold-plated after the piece was ground, and this would include the base and rim.

• The wires were often soldered to the piece so the imperfections of the reaction between the glass and the zinc could be seen. Bubbling and imperfections.

• One of the regular patterns seen in Chinese cloisonné is called RuYi, which is a common symbol meaning ‘as one wishes’.

The RuYi pattern is found on many Chinese cloisonne pieces.

• They often used florals in their designs.

This is a beautifully made Chinese cloisonné piece with the Ruyi pattern and gold-plated wires. I would say this probably dates to the early 20th century. The detail is exquisite, and the hours it took to make were surely extensive. It is not marked, as with many of the pieces you will find. See more on this piece in the shop.

Japanese cloisonné

Japanese cloisonné took off in the late 1800s and is often credited to an old samurai who needed to earn extra money because his day job didn’t pay much. His name was Kaji Tsunekichi (1803-1883), and he developed the art form and marketed it to new buyers in the West.

Once you read the list of Japanese artist features, it may become clearer as to which group a piece belongs to.

• The colours of the enamels are different to those of the Chinese, and they are often transparent. They also added things like mica to the glass to make it sparkle.

• There are some pieces that are raised, like moriage and have not been ground down to a flat surface.

• In some pieces, some of the wire is removed to create a less outlined look. Often, they are a combination of wired and wireless, so to speak.

• Sometimes the wires are forged by hammering before applying the glass, so that there is a difference in wire thickness.

• The Japanese are great at making a decorative scene, and these panels are them combined with cloisonné techniques.

Other similar art forms

There are other forms of art that are very similar, which deserve mention.

• Champlevé involves filling in cloisons, but the metal is carved out of a metal base and then coloured.

• Inlay is another art form which can be found in early Egyptian works, where the wires make up the pattern, but stones are cut to fit the space, rather than using glass.

• Many items can incorporate elements of various design techniques and styles.

  
  

This is a fascinating art form which is still practiced today in China and Japan.

Just a note: the enamel will wear while the metal will not, so very old pieces like the Royal Gold Sceptre from Kourion, found in Cyprus in the 11th Century BCE, have some wear on the white enamel.

Disclaimer: This is by no means an in-depth article on identifying cloisonné; it is purely for interest. If you have any pieces, I would suggest getting a proper appraisal from an antique dealer. Also, I don’t have any Japanese pieces in my collection, so I apologise for not showing any examples in this article.