Cloisonne, a French word for partition or compartment, is a work of art that combines porcelain ware and bronze ware into one. Elegant, bright, glossy and colorful are the common features of cloisonne wares and the technique is capable of forming many different kinds of decorative objects.

Although the origin of cloisonne was unclear, it has over 500 years of history in China. It was first appeared in China during the Yuan dynasty (1279 - 1368) when most cloisonne produced was mainly antique bronze vessel imitations. The technique reached the peak in the Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644) and in particular during the reign of JingTai (1450 - 1456) when some of the finest cloisonne was produced. It was during the reign of JingTai that a type of deep blue color enamel was discovered and being used extensively thus the name “JingTai Lan” (Lan means blue), the Chinese word for cloisonne.

The making of cloisonne is an extremely complex and labor intensive process and requires many stages from start to finish. The process involves shape forming and hammering, surface pattern forming, enamel-filling, enamel firing, polishing and gilding. For more information on the making of cloisonne click on the image on the right.

Please note that due to the fact that these are handmade products so the color and pattern of actual items supplied may be slightly differ from the pictures shown.