ABSTRACT

Cloisonne is the technique of creating designs on metal vessels with copper or bronze wires, which have been bent or hammered into the desired pattern. These compartments (cloisons in French) serve to separate the enamel inlays, which are in the form of a glass powder made into a paste, and are often of several colors. The succeeding Manchu rulers a were great patrons of the arts, and in 1693, the Kangxi Emperor established a cloisonne workshop as one of his imperial factories. He commissioned sets of incense vessels of cloisonne enamel for presentation to Buddhist temples founded under his auspices in the Beijing area, as well as other objects to be bestowed as honorific gifts. Fortunately, extensive research into palace records and a meticulous survey of the enamel wares themselves is presently being conducted in order to determine the precise nature of the relationship between the workshops of Beijing and Guangdong.