Very beautiful pair of gild-bronze and cloisonne enamel tripod censer with ovoid form and widened collar. They are entirely decorated polychrome enamels on white zone of interlacing of rinceaux foliages and opened out or in button lotuses including inside the collar. China, Qing Dynasty,17th century. Source Charlotte Horstmann and Gerald Godefrey, Hong-Kong 1982 Source Juan-Jose Amezaga, Paris 2007 Cloisonne enamel of exception Source Mr. D. Paris 2009

The technique to fill of the partitions welded onto a metal body with polychrome crushed glass and then heated is 3.000 years an old artistic tradition. One can find objects out of enamels partitioned in a vast temporal and geographical ray. The Aegean cultures of Cyprus of XIIIe - XIIe century before J.C knew of it already the use, as well as the Celtic craft industry of Ve - IIe century before J.C created a great number of it. The golden age of partitioned enamels was with the Middle Ages, in particular in Byzance or Limoges. In China, on the other hand, the partitioned enamels developed really only starting from the beginning of the time Ming (1368-1644). Under the Kingdoms Combatants (Ve - IIIe before J.C) and Han (IIe before JC. - IIe apr. J.C.), one can find objects out of bronze encrusted with hard stones, in particular with turquoises and corals, as well as gold and of money, or then out of champlevés enamels; but the true development of the invaluable objects out of partitioned enamels started in XVe century under Xuande (1426-1434). Until there, partitioned enamels were imported Europe or Middle-East. The decorations almost always represent flowers and foliages, dreams and seldom of the characters. The first parts are welded with the money, then as of XVIIe, one uses lead, zinc, tin or lacquer for the welding of the partitions. These partitions prevent that the enamel of various colors mixes, it constitutes the screen of the decoration. The pallet of enamels exceeds seldom only five colors for the parts of XVe and XVIe. From the XVIIIe century, one starts to use pink and colors pastel. The object, then, is cooked around 700/800°C in order to dissolve glass and to form a whole body with bronze and the partitions. After it is polished to remove the impurities of surface then the bronze partitions are gilded with mercury. One can find objects to which one added later handles or feet out of bronze gilded in order to embellish or to adapt the object to a particular use. These objects were intended for decorative ends, especially in the Buddhist temples or taoists where one kept a great quantity of objects out of partitioned enamels. One often finds forms typical with the use of the ritual temples, burn-perfumes, vases or other parts inspired of the antiquated forms. These parts were initially appreciated by a small number of people, especially by the well-read men and of the people of the high society like at the imperial court. Even if one finds partitioned the most sumptuous and of an extraordinary quality to first half of XVe century, it is only as from the XVIIe century that the imperial court ordered a great number of parts of it to decorate the various rooms and living rooms with the prohibited city as well as Palate with summer and in the other cities with second home.