Enamel (glass) Facts for Kids

The Royal Gold Cup, 23.6 cm high, 17.8 cm across at its widest point; weight 1.935 kg, British Museum. Decorated with enamel and pearls. It was made for the French royal family at the end of the 14th century.

Box with angels, intended to contain small bottles of holy oils. Champlevé enamel over gilt copper, early 13th century, Limoges

For other uses of the word, see Enamel

Enamel is made of melted glass, often on metal. Sometimes called vitreous or porcelain enamel, it is made by fusing powdered glass to a base by firing, usually between 750 and 850°C (1,380 and 1,560°F). The powder melts, flows, and then hardens to a smooth, durable coating on metal, or on glass or ceramics.

It has been used on decorative objects for two or three thousand years, but especially in the Middle Ages in Europe. In the 19th century, it was used on everyday objects such as kitchen equipment and road signs. The glass is hard-wearing, scratch resistant and easy to clean.

Old German enamel street sign

Images for kids

Gothic châsse; 1185–1200; champlevé enamel over copper gilded; height: 17.7 cm, width: 17.4 cm, depth: 10.1 cm; Louvre-Lens (Lens, France)
Chinese dish with scalloped rim, from the Ming Dynasty; early 15th century; cloisonné enamel; height: 2.5 cm, diameter: 15.2 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
Staffordshire Moorlands Pan, 2nd-century Roman Britain
Detail of painted Limoges enamel dish, mid-16th century, attributed to Jean de Court, Waddesdon Bequest
Chinese cloisonné enamel bronze wine pot, 18th century
Imperial vases by Ando Jubei, with the chrysanthemum crests of the Imperial family, using moriage to slightly raise the design; Khalili Collection of Japanese Art
Meenakaari art from Iran
Grey clouds, typical enamel cooking gear from the Dutch DRU factory, popular in the 1950s
Glass vials with ground vitreous enamel powder in different colors
Medallion of the Death of the Virgin, with basse-taille enamel, partly fallen away
The Dunstable Swan Jewel, a livery badge in ronde bosse enamel, about 1400. British Museum
View into a glass-lined chemical reactor
Turb-mixer in a glass-lined chemical reactor
Silver, silver gilt and painted enamel beaker, Burgundian Netherlands, c. 1425–1450, The Cloisters, nyc
Limoges? grisaille painted Stations of the Cross, Notre-Dame-des-Champs, Avranches
St. Gregory the Great in painted Limoges enamel on a copper plaque, by Jacques I Laudin
Louis George enamel watch dial
Iranian enamel

Enamel (glass) facts for kids

Images for kids

See also