Cloisonné

Cloisonné is a decorative technique in which thin metal strips form compartments filled with enamel or stones. The raised partitions create distinct outlines between colored areas.

Vitreous enamel: A glassy coating fused to metal or another surface by firing. In enamel cloisonné, powdered glass melts inside the metal compartments.
Byzantine Empire: The eastern continuation of the Roman Empire, centered on Constantinople until 1453. Byzantine workshops developed prominent cloisonné enamel traditions for religious and imperial objects.
Copper: A reddish metal that conducts heat and electricity and is readily shaped. Copper is a common base for cloisonné because it can be formed and fired with enamel.
Reliquary: A container for preserving or displaying relics associated with a sacred person or event. Cloisonné enamel decorated reliquaries in Byzantine and medieval Christian art.
Champlevé enamel: Enamel decoration made by filling recessed areas cut or cast into a metal surface. Its compartments are excavated from the base instead of assembled from cloison strips.
Cloison: A thin strip of metal that forms a boundary within a cloisonné design. Each cloison outlines a compartment and separates its color from neighboring areas.
Silla: A Korean kingdom that ruled much of the Korean Peninsula from 57 BCE to 935 CE. Silla metalworkers made gold objects using cloisonné and other sophisticated techniques.
Gold: A dense, corrosion-resistant yellow metal valued for its malleability and luster. Gold cloisons and bases appear in prestigious historical cloisonné objects.
Processional cross: A cross carried on a pole during religious ceremonies and processions. Cloisonné panels added color and symbolic imagery to some processional crosses.
Plique-à-jour: A translucent enameling technique in which enamel spans open cells without a metal backing. Both use metal cells, but plique-à-jour allows light through the enamel.

Linked from 10 pages