On-site analysis of Chinese Cloisonné enamels from fifteenth to nineteenth centuries

✍ Scribed by Burcu Kırmızı; Philippe Colomban; Béatrice Quette

• Book ID: 102426482
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 391 KB
• Volume: 41
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0377-0486
• DOI: 10.1002/jrs.2516

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

A selection of 22 rare Chinese cloisonné enamels, from fifteenth century to nineteenth century A.D., has been studied on‐site in the storage rooms of the musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris. The Raman signatures of the transparent and/or opacified glass matrix are discussed and compared with those that were previously recorded on glazed pottery, enameled and stained glasses. Enamels mostly belong to lead‐based potash‐lime glasses. Three different compositions, lead‐potash‐lime (fifteenth, sixteenth, eighteenth and nineteenth century), soda‐rich (sixteenth–seventeenth century) and soda‐lime (seventeenth century) are identified according to the wavenumber maxima of the SiO stretching and bending multiplets. Most of the pigment signatures are similar to those recorded on ceramic glazes and glass enamels, which proves the link between the technologies but a specific opacifier is observed: fluorite (CaF~2~). Naples Yellow pigment variations give characteristic signatures. Additionally, a comparison is made with Limoges enamels (sixteenth–nineteenth century A.D.). Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.