Jewelled enamelling is a goldsmithing technique in which faceted or cabochon gemstones are integrated with vitreous enamel work in a single piece, so that stones and enamel together compose the visual field rather than the stones being mounted on a separately enamelled ground. The category is broad, encompassing Byzantine gold pectorals, Renaissance pendants, Mughal court jewellery, the late nineteenth-century Russian work of the Fabergé houses, and the plique-à-jour wings of Art Nouveau brooches by Lalique and his contemporaries.

Technical Range

The principal challenge is heat. Vitreous enamel fuses at temperatures between roughly 750°C and 850°C, well above the point at which most coloured gemstones discolour, fracture, or lose their treatment. Workshop solutions take three forms. The first is to fire the enamel work entirely before any stone is set, so that setting becomes a cold operation analogous to standard prong, bezel, or pavé work. This is the most common approach in modern fine jewellery and accounts for the majority of so-called jewelled enamel pieces in the contemporary high-end trade. The second is to use only stones that survive enamel kiln temperatures, principally diamond and corundum, and to fire the assembled piece. The third, used in some Renaissance and Mughal work, is to set stones into pre-cut cells around which enamel is then carefully fused with extremely localised heat, an approach that requires a master enameller and considerable production loss.

Historical Examples

Byzantine and early medieval cloisonné, particularly the work surviving in the Pala d'Oro of Saint Mark's in Venice, integrates polished cabochons of garnet, sapphire, and emerald with enamel scenes. Mughal kundan and meenakari jewellery from the seventeenth century combines uncut foiled stones on the obverse with rich champlevé enamel on the reverse, producing pieces that are jewelled on one face and enamelled on the other. The Geneva émailleurs of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries developed miniature painted enamel watch dials surrounded by rose-cut diamonds. Art Nouveau workshops, principally in Paris around 1895 to 1910, popularised plique-à-jour wings inset with small diamonds and demantoid garnets.

Modern Practice

Contemporary fine jewellery houses including Cartier, Buccellati, and a number of independent ateliers continue to commission jewelled enamel work, and the technique is taught in specialist programmes at the Birmingham School of Jewellery and at the Haute École de Joaillerie in Paris. Modern stones are almost always set after the enamel is complete; assembled-and-fired work is rare and effectively confined to demonstration pieces and high commission projects.