Champlevé enamel

Glass fused into cells cut from a copper plate, then gilded, as practised at Limoges.

The Chasse of Champagnat, gilded copper with blue and green enamel

Materials & tools

Copper plate
Powdered coloured glass
Gravers and scorpers
Gold for fire-gilding

In champlevé enamel the design is cut down into a thick copper plate, leaving raised walls between hollows. Powdered glass is packed into the hollows and fired until it fuses; the piece is then ground level, polished and the exposed copper gilded. Workshops at Limoges produced reliquaries, crosses and book covers in this technique from the mid-twelfth century, in quantities that reached churches across Europe.

The Met: Chasse of Champagnat

The process

Step by step

1
Engrave or gouge the cells into the copper
2
Fill the cells with powdered glass
3
Fire in a kiln until the glass fuses
4
Grind flat and polish
5
Gild the reserved metal and assemble on a wooden core