DOI Heft:
No. 41 (August, 1896)
DOI Artikel:Miller, Fred: An enameller and his work
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17297#0170
An Enamel lev and his Work
ling is seen through it, giving an extremely beautiful Limoges generally consists in a subject being
brilliancy to the enamel, and at the same time a very painted in a semi-opaque white enamel on a dark
fine sense of form to the modelling. This enamel ground in which the thickness and degrees of thin-
had its origin in Italy about the thirteenth century,
and some of the most beautiful pieces of gold-
smith's work have parts or point coloured by this
method. It was carried to perfection by Cellini
and his pupils and contemporaries. One of the
finest examples of this method is seen in the cup at
the British Museum known as the St. Agnes cup,
the enamel being of great splendour on fine gold.
Plique a Jour.—The pattern is just made in gold
or silver wire soldered together, much in the same
way as the lead in stained glass, but unlike the
TRIPTYCH OF THE CRUCIFIXION
ENAMEL WORK BY A. FISHER
ness of the white give the light and shade. This
is sometimes coloured with transparent enamel.
The well-known Battersea enamels of the eighteenth
century, many examples of which are to be seen in
South Kensington Museum, were done by first
covering the metal with opaque white enamel, and
then firing it and painting on the vitrified surface
in ordinary china colours.
The qualities which appeal to one most in
enamelling of a transparent kind (that is, where
the metal ground is distinctly seen through the
enamel) are brilliancy and preciousness. This
latter quality is almost entirely overlooked, and
yet to my mind, it is the most exquisite of all. It is
almost always found in early work, which is partly
due to the love, the reverence, and the humanity
of the ancient craftsmen. I mean by this the dis-
tinctly human effort as contrasted with the machine
work of to-day. The Celtic and Byzantine enamels
have all the perfection one can possibly desire in
this respect. Mr. Fisher might have used the
words of Rabbi Ben Ezra: not "on the vulgar mass
called ' work,' must sentence pass, things done,
that took the eye and had the price;" but that
glass the enamel is fused into these spaces without work, the outcome of the desire to express all that
a ground. This work is extremely delicate and is in one which " the world's coarse thumb and
fairy-like, and seemed to Mr. Fisher at one time finger failed to plumb."
to present an insuperable difficulty, but he at Speaking of Plique a jour, Mr. Fisher says :
length overcame it. " There are many small specimens of this work,
MEMORIAL TO THE LATE EARL OF WARWICK
ENAMEL WORK BY A. FISHER
54
ling is seen through it, giving an extremely beautiful Limoges generally consists in a subject being
brilliancy to the enamel, and at the same time a very painted in a semi-opaque white enamel on a dark
fine sense of form to the modelling. This enamel ground in which the thickness and degrees of thin-
had its origin in Italy about the thirteenth century,
and some of the most beautiful pieces of gold-
smith's work have parts or point coloured by this
method. It was carried to perfection by Cellini
and his pupils and contemporaries. One of the
finest examples of this method is seen in the cup at
the British Museum known as the St. Agnes cup,
the enamel being of great splendour on fine gold.
Plique a Jour.—The pattern is just made in gold
or silver wire soldered together, much in the same
way as the lead in stained glass, but unlike the
TRIPTYCH OF THE CRUCIFIXION
ENAMEL WORK BY A. FISHER
ness of the white give the light and shade. This
is sometimes coloured with transparent enamel.
The well-known Battersea enamels of the eighteenth
century, many examples of which are to be seen in
South Kensington Museum, were done by first
covering the metal with opaque white enamel, and
then firing it and painting on the vitrified surface
in ordinary china colours.
The qualities which appeal to one most in
enamelling of a transparent kind (that is, where
the metal ground is distinctly seen through the
enamel) are brilliancy and preciousness. This
latter quality is almost entirely overlooked, and
yet to my mind, it is the most exquisite of all. It is
almost always found in early work, which is partly
due to the love, the reverence, and the humanity
of the ancient craftsmen. I mean by this the dis-
tinctly human effort as contrasted with the machine
work of to-day. The Celtic and Byzantine enamels
have all the perfection one can possibly desire in
this respect. Mr. Fisher might have used the
words of Rabbi Ben Ezra: not "on the vulgar mass
called ' work,' must sentence pass, things done,
that took the eye and had the price;" but that
glass the enamel is fused into these spaces without work, the outcome of the desire to express all that
a ground. This work is extremely delicate and is in one which " the world's coarse thumb and
fairy-like, and seemed to Mr. Fisher at one time finger failed to plumb."
to present an insuperable difficulty, but he at Speaking of Plique a jour, Mr. Fisher says :
length overcame it. " There are many small specimens of this work,
MEMORIAL TO THE LATE EARL OF WARWICK
ENAMEL WORK BY A. FISHER
54