User:MartinPoulter/Islamic enamels

Portrait of the Qajar ruler, Fath 'Ali Shah, opaque and translucent enamels on gold, Iran, early 19th century

Gold hookah bowl decorated with multiple enamels, Mewar, India c. 1700

Enamel has a long history of use in Islamic art, including for jewellery, metalwork, and other decorative arts. Techniques used during the history of Islamic enamels include champlevé (in which enamel is added to indentations in a metal surface), cloisonné (in which patches of enamel are contained within metal wires), and basse-taille (when an engraved pattern in metal is filled with a translucent enamel layer).

Enamel was established in Egypt as least as far back as the 1st century BC, and by the time of the start of the Islamic calendar in 632AD had reached a high sophistication. In the 10th and 11th centuries Muslim courts received enamelled objects as gifts from the neighbouring Byzantine Empire. At this time, cloisonné enamel was popular in Byzantine and Muslim courts unlike their European counterparts who preferred champlevé.

Islamic jewellery has frequently used either cloisonné and champlevé, in translucent and opaque variations. From the Fatimid period there are examples of enamelled patterns used within gold filigree jewellery items; similar designs continued into the Mamluk era. Moroccan jewellery from the 17th century used champlevé. In the Mughal Empire, basse-taille and cloisonne were introduced in the 17th century as common ways to decorate jewellery.

Pan box in enamelled gold, Mughal India, c. 1700

From the 17th century onwards, enamel was used in Mughal India to give colourful decoration to gold objects. Metalwork flourished in Isfahan, Iran, in the 19th century; here also, enamelling was used to add bright colours to gold trays and vessels.

Wanted images: p211 ISL275 p2121 hookah ISL522

References

Sources

• Khalili, Nasser D. (2005). The timeline history of Islamic art and architecture. London: Worth. ISBN 1903025176.
• Carvalho, Pedro Moura (2009). "Enamel in the Islamic Lands". In Williams, Haydn (ed.). Enamels of the world, 1700-2000 : the Khalili collections. London: Khalili Family Trust. ISBN 9781874780175.

[[Category:Islamic art]] [[Category:Vitreous enamel]]