Where is cloisonne made?

Cloisonne is a special craft in Beijing.

Beijing cloisonne is famous for its elegant and vigorous shape, rich patterns, beautiful and solemn colors, giving people a round, solid, beautiful and gorgeous artistic feeling and becoming a world-famous traditional handicraft.

Cloisonne is a kind of ware made of soft flat copper wire, which is kneaded into various patterns and welded, and then filled with enamel glaze and fired. Because it was popular in Jingtai period of Ming dynasty, the production technology was mature, and the enamel glaze used was mostly blue, so it was named "cloisonne".

Cloisonne craft not only uses bronze craft, but also absorbs porcelain craft. At the same time, a large number of traditional painting and carving techniques are introduced. It is a complex technological process integrating metallurgy, casting, painting, kiln industry, carving, chiseling and hammering, and it can be called the pinnacle of traditional craftsmanship in China. Therefore, since ancient times, there has been a saying that "a cloisonne has ten boxes of official kiln wares".

Historical origin

Cloisonne has a long history of development. However, due to the lack of existing literature records and early products with reliable dates, there has been no conclusion. Up to now, the earliest literature on metal tire enamel products in China can only be found in On Gegu written by Cao Zhao in the twenty-first year of Hongwu in the early Ming Dynasty. The "big food kiln" recorded in the book is the "tire cloisonne" product.

According to the analysis of historical data, at the end of13rd century, "copper tire cloisonne" was introduced into China from Arabia. At the beginning of the introduction, there were many names such as "big food kiln" and "franc". The earliest existing enamel products in China are the products collected by the Palace Museum at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, such as the three-ring jar of animal ears, the linked tripod furnace and the lotus elephant ear furnace. It is said that Jingtai was the son of Emperor Xuande of the Ming Dynasty, who attached great importance to bronzes and casting and smelting copper.