126. PAINTED GLASS OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. HEAD OF ST. PETER. CATHEDRAL OF CHÂLONS-SUR-MARNE
Enamelling is so closely allied to glass-painting as to claim a word for itself. Here, again, the decorative art of the Middle Ages was characteristically displayed, and though the process is more specially applicable to the ornamentation of goldsmith's work than to the decoration of large surfaces, it is one of the most brilliant and exquisite of the auxiliary arts.
127. PAINTED WINDOW OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. ÉVREUX CATHEDRAL
The earliest enamels are champlevé and cloisonné. By the champlevé process a hollow, the edges of which outlined the figures or ornaments, was cut in the field or ground of metal for the reception of the fusible enamel; for cloisonné, cloisons, or slender walls of metal were fixed upon the field to separate flesh from draperies, and one tint generally from another. The background, the cloisons, and the flesh were gilt and burnished; details were defined by engraved lines, so that the draperies only were enamelled.
128. ENAMEL OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. PLAQUE COVER OF A MS. HEIGHT 4¾ IN., WIDTH 29/16 IN.
[Fig. 128] reproduces an enamel of the close of the eleventh century, in which these various characteristics may be studied. The inscriptions on either side of the cross are formed by letters vertically superposed, which read downwards.
From the beginning of the thirteenth century enamels were executed by the process known as taille d'épargne. By this method the ground was cut out, as described above, for the reception of the various ingredients which, after undergoing the process of firing, formed the enamel; the draperies, hands, and feet of the figures which were épargnés (spared or left) were modelled and chased in very low relief; but the central figure, such as the Christ, and the heads of the subordinate personages or attendant angels, were always in high relief, vigorously modelled, and chased.