Enamel: Three Worthies in Fiery
Furnace (Mosan). Courtesy of the
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
packed into cells on the metallic base, leveled, dried, fired, ground, and polished.
Decorative enameling, practiced by the Celts and Romans in Gaul before the Middle
Ages, seems to have been eclipsed during the early-medieval period by inlaid jewelry.
Enameling was revived in the 12th century in Limoges and the Rhine and Moselle river
valleys. Originally confined to monastic workshops, by the mid-13th century production
became commercialized, with a resultant diminution in quality. Most enamelwork,
whether monastic or commercial, was for religious purposes: reliquaries, pyxes, gospel
covers, censers. Among secular objects, one finds candlesticks, marriage caskets, and
heraldic emblems.
The enameling techniques practiced in medieval France were principally cloisonné
and champlevé. In cloisonné work, the powdered enamel is placed in separate cells
formed from narrow metal strips or wires, to which the fused enamel adheres. These
strips form a raised design above the baseplate, to which they are often soldered; the
metalwork is ancillary to the enamel. In champlevé work, which largely supplanted
cloisonné by the mid-12th century, the enamel fills cells encised in the baseplate, and the
metal (often gold) left after cutting away the cells takes on a design importance of its
own, with the metal and enamel playing harmoniously off one another.
Mosan and Rhenish enamels are easily distinguished by their colors, with greens and
yellows predominating. A rich blue dominates most Limoges work. Limoges specialized
in champlevé caskets and reliquaries, to which was often riveted a head or figure in high
relief by repoussé (modeling sheet metal with hammer and punches).
In the 14th century, a new style imported from Italy and Spain, basse-taille, began to
predominate in French production. This is a combination of techniques including carving,
engraving, and enameling. Precious gold or silver was engraved and carved in bas-relief,
then transparent enamel was fused level with the uncarved parts, allowing the design to
show through. The most splendid example of basse-taille is the gold cup commissioned
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 608