Metal Work and Enamel
The Byzantines were also expert carvers of ivory and workers in metal, decorated in repoussé and with wire filigree; the metal work was invariably set with jewels and precious stones, in conjunction with champleve enamel, the whole being gilt.
As a result of the Iconoclastic movement, and the decree of Pope Leo III in 726 A.D., the art workers, deprived of local patronage and compelled to pursue their crafts elsewhere, migrated to the Rhine district, where for some centuries the Byzantine traditions were preserved and largely influenced Western art, particularly with regard to the working in metal and enamels. The attraction of the centre of the Eastern Empire for northern adventurers had its effect in the introduction of the Byzantine style into the detail of the different phases of the Romanesque.
No. 41. Champleve enamel Byzantine tradition.
The tradition thus becoming widely known was finally absorbed by local craftsmen and modified according to local conditions, with the result that both in expression and in execution, the style tended to become more and more crude, until the original forms and details were almost entirely lost. But in spite of changes the classic feeling never completely died out.