Enamel

(Fr. esmail; Ital. smalto ). A gla y substance of many brilliant colours, melted and united to gold, silver, copper, bronze, and other metals in the furnace. Enamel is coloured white by oxide of tin, blue by oxide of cobalt, red by gold, and green by copper. Different kinds of enamel are (1) inlaid or incrusted. (2) Transparent, showing designs on the metal under it. (3) Painted as a complete picture. “Many fine specimens of ancient Chinese enamel were seen in the Exhibition of 1851. They have the enamel on copper, beautifully coloured and enlivened with figures of flowers, birds, and other animals. The colouring is most chaste and effective. The Chinese say that no good specimens of this manufacture have been made for the last six or eight hundred years.” ( Fortune. ) Beautiful transparent enamels are made in India. They look like slices of emerald or sapphire laid in beds of gold, having tiny figures of beaten gold let into their surfaces. (See also Cloisonné, Champ-levé, Ba e-taille, .) The beautiful example of enamel-work, Fig. 287, is attributed to Benvenuto Cell in i. (See Fig. 188.)