Cloisonné: Beijing's Bronze and Enamel Craft

Metal Dressed as Painting

Cloisonné — jingtai lan in Chinese — is the most technically demanding of Beijing's traditional crafts, and the most immediately recognisable: a bronze or copper body, an outline drawn in thin copper wire, and coloured enamel pastes fired into the spaces between the wires. The result looks like a painted surface but is metal and glass, and it takes repeated firings, polishing and gilding to finish.

The Process, in Seven Stages

The craft runs through a sequence that has barely changed: forming the metal body, bending and soldering the wire pattern onto it, filling the cells with enamel paste colour by colour, firing, refilling where the enamel shrinks, firing again, then grinding the surface flush and polishing the wires and gilt fittings. Shrinkage is why a good piece may be fired five or six times, and why fine detail costs what it does.

Where to See It in Beijing

The city's craft centres, the enamel factories that accept visitors, and the decorative-arts museums all show the process; several workshops run demonstrations where you can watch the wire work and the filling. The craft also appears in the imperial collections, which is where its colour language — deep blues, turquoises, reds and gold — can be compared across dynasties. A morning covers a demonstration and a museum stop comfortably.

Buying Cloisonné

Look at the surface: on genuine pieces the wire outlines sit slightly proud and the enamel has a faint undulation, while imitations are flat, printed or applied. Ask whether the piece is hand-wired and fired or a painted cast, and check the gilt fittings, which should be metal, not paint. Bowls, vases and small boxes are the classic purchases; they travel well when padded, since the enamel is glass and chips on impact.

Frequently Asked Questions