Vintage /Antique Japanese Handcrafted & 24ct Gold Gilded”Champlevé” Enamelled Cloisonné Egg & Stand (5”/13cm, 150g).


Superb handmade Japanese burnished, lustrous, translucent enamelling and beautiful gold gilding work by a master craftsman.


Please browse all 12 photographs attached for size, weight and condition as they are self explanatory. This is an old item and there are a couple of dents and knocks here and there which unfortunately, despite many photographs, they do not show them too well so please browse all photos carefully. There’s no enamel or gold gilt missing and generally in decent order. Not a new item and any imperfections are part and parcel of its history.


Champlevé is an enamelling technique in the decorative arts, or an object made by that process, in which troughs or cells are carved, etched, die struck, or cast into the surface of a metal object, and filled with vitreous enamel. The piece is then fired until the enamel fuses, and when cooled the surface of the object is polished. The uncarved portions of the original surface remain visible as a frame for the enamel designs; typically they are gilded in medieval work. The name comes from the French for "raised field", "field" meaning background, though the technique in practice lowers the area to be enamelled rather than raising the rest of the surface.


The technique of enamelling used intense heat to fuse glass onto a prepared metal surface, allowing the metalworker to create brightly coloured images.


Medieval enamellers used several different techniques, but champlevé enamelling was one of the most common. The word champlevé means literally 'raised fields', referring to the way that beds were dug out of a copper plate to receive the powdered enamel. Whilst the basic process remains the same, medieval enamellers used kilns fuelled with charcoal and relied on their judgement when firing the enamel plaques.


Champlevé is distinguished from the technique of cloisonné enamel in which the troughs are created by soldering flat metal strips to the surface of the object.


In champlevé enameling, a recess is etched, cast, or carved into the body of the metal substrate to be filled with frit. Enameling is one of the oldest decorative techniques seen across cultures, and it was embraced by designers in the nineteenth century.


The value of cloisonne depends on the quality of the piece and whether it has been properly constructed. Pieces painted in the style may be worth only $30-$50. Yet if the metal parts of each piece are filled with enamel they can be worth hundreds or even thousands of Pounds Sterling.


Champlevé enamel's history spans centuries, with the earliest known pieces dating back to 400 BCE. Celtic metalworkers of Central Europe employed the method to decorate a wide variety of objects, from jewellery and chariots to tools, weapons and harnesses.


This item is Japanese Cloisonné. The difference between Chinese cloisonné and Japanese cloisonné is the surface. Generally, Japanese cloisonné looks glassy because of the grinding and buffing process used to produce it. Chinese cloisonné appears less glossy and may even have an almost matte finish.


Cloisonné is an ancient technique for decorating metalwork objects with colored material held in place or separated by metal strips or wire, normally of gold. In recent centuries, vitreous enamel has been used, but inlays of cut gemstones, glass and other materials were also used during older periods.


Cloisonné enamel objects are worked on with enamel powder made into a paste, which then needs to be fired in a kiln. The decoration is formed by first adding compartments to the metal object by soldering or affixing silver or gold as wires or thin strips placed on their edges. These remain visible in the finished piece, separating the different compartments of the enamel or inlays.


Cloisonné first developed in the jewellery of the ancient Near East, and the earliest enamel all used the cloisonné technique, placing the enamel within small cells with gold walls.