What is cloisonné jewelry?

Cloisonné jewelry is jewelry that has been decorated with a distinctive enameling technique.

Cloisonné (“cell” in French) is a technique in which thin wires of fine silver or gold are used to outline a design, which is then filled with enamel. The piece is subsequently placed in a kiln where the enamel is melted. Cloisonné is distinct because the individual wires remain visible, forming an outline of the motif.

Over the years, enameling has become an art form. This is partly because of its durability: Although the colors may change during firing, once cooled, they’re set and never fade. They can also be made either opaque or translucent — just one example of the flexibility that is another reason artists are attracted to the medium. 

When it comes to jewelry design and other disciplines, cloisonné enamel was popular during the Byzantine Empire (artisans living in France and Germany in the Middle Ages preferred champlevé). By the 7th century, Lombard craftsmen in northern Italy were using enamel to emulate Byzantine objects. In the 12th and 13th centuries, artisans in China imported the technique and made it so much their own that enameled objects have long been associated with Eastern aesthetics and motifs rather than Western ones.

Find cloisonné jewelry on 1stDibs.