how to tell the age of chinese cloisonne

Gold, enamel, and diamond snuffbox by Jean-Marie Tiron. What does enamel look like?Įnamel is a smooth, hard, glass-like material which normally appears on antique pieces as a colourful, decorative exterior coating.Ĭhemically, enamel has a number of properties which make it especially valuable: it is unreactive, hard, easy to clean, resistant to burning and scratching, and does not lose its colour over time. Many of the finest and most precious antique pieces in existence feature enamelled decorations: these include vases, jewellery, precious boxes, clock dials, frames, even furniture. Indeed, this kind of enamel – the enamel you’ll encounter on an antique object – is a complex, precious and beautiful material which has a history stretching back thousands of years, and which requires an extremely high degree of skill and precision to use. It has the hardness of metal but the delicacy of glass, and it’s colourful, slightly translucent and stunningly beautiful. Quite simply, vitreous enamel is a mixture containing powdered, or ground, glass, which is then applied to the surface of a piece and fired. Tooth enamel is very different to enamel paint, which in turn is very different to porcelain or vitreous enamel, the type of enamel you’ll find on an antique object. When people talk about enamel, they are actually often confusing several, very different, types of material. It covers your jewellery, decorates your glassware, coats road signs and insulates electrical wiring.Įnamel, seemingly, is everywhere.

You might encounter the word ‘enamel’ when you brush your teeth, drive your car, take the train, or cook using your pots and pans.

How to tell the age of chinese cloisonne