Cloisonné ranks as one of China's major contributions to the world's fine arts.

Dating back over 500 years, the technique was adopted and readapted by the Japanese in the 19th century. One of the products of this reinvention by the Japanese was making Cloisonné on porcelain as opposed to the traditional copper, bronze or gold.

The production process is complex, elaborate and requires a lot of skill. It includes base-hammering, soldering, enamel-filling, enamel firing, polishing and gilding.

The Japanese word for Cloisonné is Shippo.

Cloi`son*né (?), a. [F., partitioned, fr. cloison a partition.]

Inlaid between partitions: -- said of enamel when the lines which divide the different patches of fields are composed of a kind of metal wire secured to the ground; as distinguished from champlev'e enamel, in which the ground is engraved or scooped out to receive the enamel.

S. Wells Williams.

 

© Webster 1913.

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