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Byzantine cloisonné enamel
A decorative craft of enclosing color fields with fine metal wires on a metal body, filling with glassy enamel and firing at high heat, important in …
Timeline
- c. 600–843Constantinople · ConstantinopleByzantine craftsmen combined cloisonné partitioning with transparent and opaque enamel glazes, applying it to crosses, book covers and small icon plaques, forming a court craft tradition distinct from ancient Roman champlevé enamel.
- 1051–1060Constantinople · ConstantinopleCapital court and church workshops continued firing cloisonné enamel icons and altar decorations; works of this period were characterized by gold bodies, fine gold wire partitioning and rich blue-green glazes, and spread to Eastern Europe and Italy through gifts and trade.
- c. 1100–1204Eastern Mediterranean · Byzantine cultural sphereByzantine cloisonné enamel influenced workshops of Kievan Rus, Venice and Sicily; after the Crusader sack of 1204 some craftsmen and objects dispersed, promoting Western European imitation and collecting of Byzantine enamel techniques.
Sources
- Byzantine Art and Architecture: An Introduction — Lyn Rodley (1994)
- Enamels of Byzantium and the West — Robert Anderson (1980)