cloisonné

Enameling technique. Delicate strips of gold, brass, silver, copper, or other metal wire are welded to a metal plate in the shape of a design, and the resulting cellular spaces are filled with vitreous enamel paste that is fired, ground smooth, and polished. The earliest surviving examples are six 13th-century BC Mycenaean rings. The technique reached its peak in the West during the Byzantine Empire. Chinese cloisonné was widely produced during the Ming and Qing dynasties; in Japan it was popular in the Edo and Meiji periods. See also enamelwork.

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