Cloisonn

DEFINITION

Enamels fused inside a wire enclosure (a cloison) on a metal or porcelain ground, forming chambers (cloisons) to receive vitreous enamel pastes. Used earliest and commonly by the Byzantines, with excellent examples dating from before the eleventh century. A rarer type of cloisonn? is that in which the wire enclosures surround inlaid stones.(pr. KLWAH-zə-NAY)Examples of these two types: Egypt, c. 1264 BCE (19th Dynasty), Cloisonn? Pendant in the Form of a Predatory Bird with a Ram's Head, Serapeum of Sakkara, gold, turquoise, jasper, lapis-lazuli; span: 13.7 x 7.4 cm, Louvre. Netherlands, second quarter of the 11th century, Maastricht Binding-Case, gold, cloisonn? enamel, gemstones, filigree and niello on wood base, 0.392 x 0.32 m, Louvre.