Enamelled glass
Enamelled glass or painted glass is glass which has been decorated with
All proper uses of the term "enamel" refer to glass made into some flexible form, put into place on an object in another material, and then melted by heat to fuse them with the object. It is called
Enamelled glass is only one of the techniques used in luxury glass, and at least until the
It has also been a technique used in stained glass windows, in most periods supplementary to other techniques, and has sometimes been used for portrait miniatures and other paintings on flat glass.
Techniques
Glass is enamelled by mixing powdered glass, either already coloured (more usual) or clear glass mixed with the pigments,
Until recent centuries the enamel firing was done holding the vessel in a furnace on a
In fact some glassmakers allowed for a deforming effect in the second firing, which lowered and widened the shape of the vessel, sometimes very greatly, by making blanks that were taller and more narrow than the shape they actually wanted.[4] The enamels leave a layer of glass projecting very slightly over the original surface, the edges of which can be felt by running a finger over the surface. Enamelled glass is often used in combination with gilding, but lustreware, which often produces a "gold" metallic coating is a different process. Sometimes elements of the "blank", such as handles, may only be added after the enamel paints, during the second firing.[5]
Glass is sometimes "cold painted" with enamel paints that are not fired; often this was done on the underside of a bowl, to minimize wear on the painted surface. This was used for some elaborate Venetian pieces in the early 16th century, but the technique is "famously impermanent", and pieces have usually suffered badly from the paint falling off the glass.[6]
Some modern techniques are much simpler than historic ones.[7] For instance, there now exist glass enamel pens.[8] Mica may also be added for sparkle.[9]
History
Ancient
The history of enamelled glass begins in ancient Egypt not long after the start of making glass vessels (as opposed to objects such as beads) around 1500 BC, and some 1400 years before the invention of
Enamel was used to decorate glass vessels during the Roman period, and there is evidence of this as early as the late Republican and early Imperial periods in the Levant, Egypt, Britain and around the Black Sea.[12][13] Designs were either painted freehand or over the top of outline incisions, and the technique probably originated in metalworking.[12] Production is thought to have come to a peak in the Claudian period and persisted for some three hundred years,[12] though archaeological evidence for this technique is limited to some forty vessels or vessel fragments.[12]
Among a variety of pieces, many perhaps fall into two broad groups: tall, clear drinking glasses painted with scenes of sex (from mythology) or violence (hunting, gladiators), and then low bowls, some of coloured glass, painted with birds and flowers. This latter group appear to date to about 20–70 AD, and findspots are widely distributed across the empire, indeed many are found beyond its borders; they may have been made in north Italy or Syria.[14]
The largest group of survivals comes from the
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Roman bowl with bird, found outside the empire, in modern Denmark
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Goblet with Abduction of Europa,Begram Hoard
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Goblet with date harvesting,Begram Hoard
Byzantine
After about the 3rd century Greco-Roman enamelled glass disappears, and there is another long gap in the history of the technique. This is ended in spectacular fashion by a 10th or 11th-century Byzantine bowl in the Treasury of
Islamic
There is little surviving Byzantine enamelled glass, but enamel was much used for jewellery and religious objects, and appears again on
According to Carl Johan Lamm, whose two-volume book on Islamic glass (Mittelalterliche Glaser und Steinschnittarbeiten aus dem Nahen Osten, Berlin, 1929/30) has long been the standard work, the main centres, each with its own style, were in turn Raqqa (1170–1270), Aleppo (13th century), Damascus (1250–1310) and Fustat (Cairo, 1270–1340). However this chronology has been disputed in recent years, tending to push dates later, and rearranging the locations. In particular there is disagreement as to whether elaborate pieces with figural decoration are early or late, effectively 13th or 14th century, with Rachel Ward arguing for the later dates.[23]
The shape of mosque lamps in this period is very standard; despite being suspended in the air through their lugs when in use, they have a broad foot, a rounded central body, and a wide flaring mouth. Filled with oil, they lit not only mosques, but also similar spaces such as
Enamelled glass became more rare, and of rather poorer quality, in the 15th century. This decline may have been partly due to the sack of Damascus by
Some secular vessels have painted decoration including figures; some of this may have been intended for non-Islamic export markets, or Christian customers, which is clearly the case with a few pieces, including a bottle elaborately painted with clearly Christian scenes that may commemorate the election for a new abbot at a Syrian monastery.[26] Other pieces show the courtly scenes of princes, riders hawking or fighting, that is found in other media in contemporary Islamic art, and sometimes inscriptions make it clear these were intended for Muslim patrons.[27]
After mosque lamps, the most common shape is a tall beaker, flaring towards the top. This was made somewhat differently from the mosque lamps, the flaring apparently done in the course of the second firing.
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Beaker with polo-players, 1250–1300
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13th-century bottle, Syria, likely used for perfume
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Egyptian mosque lamp, 14th century
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Bucket, Syria, 14th century
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14th-century plate
Western Europe
It is now known that the technique was being used in Venetian glass from the late 13th century, mostly to make beakers.[34] Until about 1970 it was thought it did not appear in Venice until around 1460,[35] and surviving early Venetian pieces were attributed elsewhere. The Aldrevandin(i) Beaker in the British Museum is now regarded as a work of about 1330, having once been thought to be much later. It is an armorial beaker that is, unusually, inscribed with the name of its maker: "“magister aldrevandin me feci(t)” – probably the decorator.[36] It is "the iconic head of a group of more or less similar objects" and arguably "the most widely known and published medieval European glass vessel". It is large and "has considerable visual “gravity.” When it is held, however, it is shockingly lightweight" with in most parts, the glass sides "scarcely more than a millimeter thick".[37]
Armorial glass, with a painted
By the 17th century, "German enamelling became stereotyped within a limited range of subjects", most often using the humpen beaker shape.
Enamelled glass ceased to be fashionable in Italy by around 1550, but the broadly Venetian style remained popular in Germany and Bohemia until the mid-18th century, after which the remaining production was of much lower quality, though often bright and cheerful in a
A distinct style that originated with the glassmaker Johann Schaper of Nuremberg in Germany around 1650 was the schwarzlot style, using only black enamel on clear or sometimes white milk glass. This was a relatively linear style, with images often drawing on contemporary printmaking. Schaper himself was the best artist to use it, specializing in landscapes and architectural subjects. The style was practiced in Germany and Bohemia until about 1750, and indeed is sometimes used on a large scale on German windows much later.[46]
In the 19th century there was increasing technical quality in many parts of Europe, initially with revivalist or over-elaborate Victorian styles; the Prague firm of Moser was a leading producer. In the later part of the century fresher and more innovative designs, often anticipating Art Nouveau, were led by French makers such as Daum and Émile Gallé.[47] It was for the first time possible to kiln-fire pieces, greatly simplifying the process and making it more reliable, reducing the risk of having to reject pieces and so allowing more investment in elaborate decorative work.[48]
Most pieces were now relatively large vases or bowls for display; the style related to design movements in other media such as
On flat glass
Enamelled glass is mostly associated with glass vessels, but the same technique has often been used on flat glass. It has often been used as a supplementary technique in stained glass windows, to provide black linear detail, and colours for areas where great detail and a number of colours are required, such as the coats of arms of donors. Some windows were also painted in grisaille. The black material is usually called "glass paint" or "grisaille paint". It was powdered glass mixed with iron filings for colour and binders, which was applied to glass pieces before the window was made up, and then fired.[50] It therefore is essentially a form of enamel, but is not usually so called when talking about stained glass, where "enamel" refers to other colours, often applied over the whole surface of one of the many pieces making up a design .
Enamel on metal was used for portrait miniatures in 16th-century France, and enjoyed something of a revival after about 1750. Some artists, including Henry Bone, sometimes painted in enamels on glass rather than the usual copper plate, without the change in base material making much difference to their style. Jean-Étienne Liotard, who usually worked in pastel, made at least one genre painting in enamels on glass.[51]
Gallery
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Aldrevandini beaker, a Venetian glass with enamel decorationderived from Islamic technique and style. c. 1330.[36]
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Goblet, Venice, 1475–1510
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German Apostelhumpen, 1600–50
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Base for a Water Pipe (huqqa), Lucknow, India, 1700–1750
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Bohemian mug, 18th century, typical of so-called "peasant glass"
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English vase with chinoiserie shape and decoration, 5 inches tall, 1755–65, probably Bristol
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Chinese snuff bottle, 18th-century, 3 inches high
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Novelty Russian tumbler; the glass has two layers, and the gap has the landscape image built up with moss, straw, paper, sand, stone, clay and mica, as well as painted enamel, 1800–10
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Italian goblet, 19th century
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Daum vase with forest scene, French, late 19th century
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Vase Herbes et Papillons ("Grass and Butterflies"), Émile Gallé, c. 1879
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Japanese enamel made using the musen shippō (無線七宝) technique; wire is used to locate the glass, but then removed before firing.
Notes
- ^ Gudenrath, 23–24
- ^ Ward, 57–59; Carboni, 203; Gudenrath, 23–27, and throughout, has very full details of manufacturing processes.
- ^ Gudenrath, 23–27, and throughout, has very full details of manufacturing processes. Gudenrath is emphatic that kiln firing of enamels is not found before the 19th century, and criticises Carboni and many others for propagating this "misunderstanding" – see 69–70.
- ^ Gudenrath, 50–58
- ^ Gudenrath, 35–36, 52
- ^ Gudenrath, 23
- ^ "All About Glass – Corning Museum of Glass". www.cmog.org. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
- ^ Enameling ebook Archived 2020-08-04 at the Wayback Machine, Delphi Glass
- ^ "How to Enamel". glass-fusing-made-easy.com. Archived from the original on 9 September 2017. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
- ^ Gudenrath, 28
- ^ Gudenrath, 30; British Museum page Archived 2020-07-01 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d Rutti, B., Early Enamelled Glass, in Roman Glass: two centuries of art and invention, M. Newby and K. Painter, Editors. 1991, Society of Antiquaries of London: London.
- ^ So Rutti; Gudenrath, 33 has Roman examples "beginning in the early decades of the empire".
- ^ Gudenrath, 33
- ^ Whitehouse, 441–445, these are his "Group 10".
- ^ Gudenrath, 40–42; also Gudenrath, William, et al. “Notes on the Byzantine Painted Bowl in the Treasury of San Marco, Venice.” Journal of Glass Studies, vol. 49, 2007, pp. 57–62. JSTOR Archived 2020-07-03 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "The Treasury of San Marco, Venice". www.metmuseum.org. MET Museum. 1984. Section on pages 180–183 (including illustrations)
- ^ "Mosque Lamp of Amir Qawsun" Archived 2020-06-02 at the Wayback Machine, Metropolitan Museum
- ^ Carboni, 254–256; the whole bottle
- ^ Osborne, 335, though individual dates, especially of pieces with figural decoration, have been controversial in recent years – see Ward, 55–57
- ^ Carboni, 199–207, and entries following; Ward, 55; Gudenrath, 42
- ^ Carboni, Stefano. "Enameled and Gilded Glass from Islamic Lands". www.metmuseum.org. Department of Islamic Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- ^ Ward, 55–57; Carboni, 204
- ^ Ward, 57; Carboni, 203, 207; Doha, Museum of Islamic Art. "Mosque Lamp". www.mia.org.qa. Archived from the original on 12 November 2019. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
- ^ Carboni, 207; Ward, 70–71
- ^ Carboni, 242–245 (# 121). He is aware only of this bottle and the two beakers in Baltimore, mentioned below.
- ^ Carboni, 226–227, 241–242, 247–252
- ^ Gudenrath, 43–46
- ^ Fish; birds
- ^ Example in Louvre, and Freer Sackler
- ^ Contadini, Anna (1998), "Poetry on Enamelled Glass: The Palmer Cup in the British Museum", in: Ward, R, (ed.), Gilded and Enamelled Glass from the Middle East. London: British Museum Press, pp. 56–60.; "Palmer Cup", Waddesdon Bequest Archived 2020-07-02 at the Wayback Machine, "Palmer Cup" Archived 2020-06-29 at the Wayback Machine, British Museum; Carboni, 242; it has been given a metal mount in France, turning it into a goblet.
- ^ Carboni, 205
- ^ a b Carboni, 244
- ^ "Aldrevandini Beaker, British Museum". Archived from the original on 2020-06-25. Retrieved 2020-06-22.
- ^ a b Osborne, 335
- ^ a b Gudenrath, 47–50; Aldrevandini beaker Archived 2020-06-26 at the Wayback Machine, British Museum
- ^ Gudenrath, 48
- ^ Gudenrath, 62–63
- ^ Osborne, 335; Gudenrath, 62–65
- ^ Gudenrath, 62
- ^ Osborne, 335, 401
- ^ "Venetian betrothal goblet, Victoria and Albert Museum". Archived from the original on 2020-06-10. Retrieved 2020-06-22.
- ^ Osborne, 335; Gudenrath, 64–65
- ^ Gudenrath, 65–66; Osborne, 401
- ^ Osborne, 335–336
- ^ Osborne, 335–336, 693–694; Gudenrath, 64
- ^ Osborne, 336, 401–403
- ^ Gudenrath, 66–68
- ^ "Objects of Beauty- Art Nouveau glass and jewellery". Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
- ^ Swoboda, Gudrun, "Point of View #2: Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702–1789), Painter of Extremes", 7–10, 14, in KHM Ansichtssache #2, Vienna, online Archived 2020-06-28 at the Wayback Machine
References
- Carboni, Stephen, and others, Glass of the Sultans: Twelve Centuries of Masterworks from the Islamic World, Corning Museum of Glass / Metropolitan Museum of Art / Yale UP, 2001, ISBN 9780870999871, online
- Gudenrath, William, "Enameled Glass Vessels, 1425 BCE – 1800: The Decorating Process", Journal of Glass Studies, vol. 48, pp. 23–70, 2006, JSTOR, Online at the Corning Museum of Glass (no page numbers)
- Osborne, Harold (ed), The Oxford Companion to the Decorative Arts, 1975, OUP, ISBN 0198661134
- Ward, Rachel, "Mosque lamps and enamelled glass: Getting the dates right", in The Arts of the Mamluks in Egypt and Syria: Evolution and Impact, ed. Doris Behrens-Abouseif, 2012, V&R unipress GmbH, ISBN 3899719158, 9783899719154, google books
- Whitehouse, David, "Begram: The Glass", Topoi' Orient-Occident, 2001 11-1, pp. 437–449, online