ENAMEL Technique: Enamel is a painting material composed of colored glass. It has a natural glassy appearance, is often bright in color, and is slick to the touch. The paint is versatile as evidenced by the multitude of ways in which it was used in the Nippon era. The best-known use of enamel was to create the gems or jewels that enhance the design on a variety of Nippon wares. Another place where they were used with exquisite results was as small dots of turquoise on a gold background. These jeweled accents are a hallmark of the most beautiful Nippon Fancy Ware pieces made in this era. The enamel paint was chemically mixed to a gel and then dissolved/diluted by chemicals so that it could be put into a hypodermic-like tool to apply it to the ware.

Enamel paint proved so versatile that, as the Nippon era progressed, genres that featured enamel heavily applied to create texture and definition resulted in some of the most popular designs like Galle and Woodlands. It was used to create geometric and scenic designs like Gouda. Cloisonne on porcelain and faux cloisonne also made use of enamel paint. When glossy enamel was built up on Nippon the piece appeared to have a 3-dimensional look which enhanced its visual interest just as moriage made with slip was found to do. The Japanese refer to enamel built up this way as enamel-mori (“enamel moriage” or “hoseki-mori”) which means raised jewelry decoration.

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