Plique - a Jour is an enamel technique first developed in the 6th centuary AD in the Byzantine Empire. It is described as a vitreous enamel technique and is smilar to cloisonne, but with no metal backing. The final product is in effect a miniture stained glass. It is an extremely difficult technique with a high failure rate. Some items may take the artisan up to four months to produce. The process requires cells to be created using sheets of pecious metal and the overall design to be cut out or it may be created by using gold or silver wires, that are soldered together to create the cells. Each cell is then filled with powdered glass and fired to create the glass (enamel) film this process is repeated until all cells have been filled.
Kievian Russia made extensive use of the technique and despite the difficulty in producing Plique-a Jour the Russian aristocracy used Plique-a Jour tableware. As a result of the Mongul invasion most of the workshops producing this work were lost and only a few examples of Russian Plique a Jour survive to this day. The technique disappeared in Russia after this.
In Western Europe however the technique survived. In 1295, an inventry of Pope Boniface the VIII items include mention of several items of 'smalta clara' or clear enamel .. the French term first appears in the 14th centuary.
Benvenuto Cellini wrote a full description of the process treatise on goldsmithing.
My sources are:
Campbell P.38 - 40 ; Ostoia 78 Plique -a Jour- Yesterdays Technique today , Bill Helwig, June 1992 Glass on Metal Magazine
The Art of fine Enameling by Karen L Cohen P. 10
Labarte, Histoire des Arts Industriels iii, Paris 1865.
Recherches sur la peinture en email dans l'antique et au moyen age, Jules Labarte 1865
Marit Guinness Aschan & Rika Smith McNally Enamel Grove Art online. Oxford Art Online 28 July 2010.
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