Painted enamel is a technique in which a metal surface, usually copper, is coated with a ground of white or coloured enamel and then painted with further enamel colours, rather like painting on porcelain. Each layer is fused by firing, and the result is a smooth, glossy surface that can carry detailed pictures, portraits and ornament without the metal partitions used in cloisonné.
The technique was developed to great effect at Limoges in France in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, where workshops such as those of the Pénicaud family and the artist Léonard Limosin produced religious plaques, portraits and vessels of remarkable quality. In eighteenth-century England, enamellers in London, Birmingham and the Staffordshire towns, including Bilston and Wednesbury, as well as the short-lived Battersea works, made painted enamel snuff boxes, patch boxes, bonbonnières, étuis and candlesticks, often decorated with transfer prints and hand colouring. Chinese craftsmen also produced painted enamels, often known as Canton enamels, for the court and for export. Collectors look for fine painting, bright colours and minimal chipping or cracking, which is common because enamel is brittle. Restoration with paint or resin should be noted, as it affects value and can be hard to detect.
