Khalili enamel is shorthand among specialists for enamelled objects held in the Khalili Collection of Enamels of the World, one of the eight collections assembled by Sir David Khalili. The collection is significant in the jewellery and decorative arts field because it brings together enamels from Byzantine, French, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, English, and Islamic traditions in a single comparative grouping, supported by published scholarship that allows cross-cultural reference.

Scope of the collection

The collection includes pieces by Fabergé, Khlebnikov, Ovchinnikov, and other Russian masters; French Limoges enamels; Chinese cloisonné; Japanese cloisonné and shippo from the Meiji period and Edo precedents; English enamel boxes from Battersea, Bilston, and Birmingham; and a range of Islamic enamels including Iranian and Spanish examples. The compositional breadth makes the collection useful for tracing techniques as they crossed cultural and chronological boundaries.

Reference function

The catalogue, principally The Khalili Collection of Enamels of the World 1700-2000 by Haydn Williams, has become a standard reference for dealers and scholars dealing with European and Asian enamels of the modern period. It documents technique, attribution, and condition for each piece in standardised format, allowing comparison across the collection. For the trade, the volumes provide a published baseline against which uncatalogued pieces can be assessed.

Techniques represented

The collection includes work in cloisonné, champlevé, plique-à-jour, basse-taille, and painted enamel, allowing comparison of how the same technique was practised in different cultural contexts. The Russian guilloché-and-translucent-enamel tradition associated with Fabergé can be compared directly with French Art Deco plique-à-jour, with English Battersea-school painted enamels, and with Japanese cloisonné by makers such as Namikawa Yasuyuki and Namikawa Sosuke. The juxtaposition tends to clarify what is universal in enamel technique and what is specific to a particular tradition.

Significance for jewellers

For working jewellers approaching enamel as a technique, the Khalili publications offer a comparative photographic reference that is difficult to assemble elsewhere. The collection itself is not on permanent public display, but selected pieces have appeared in exhibitions at major museums, and the published volumes are widely available through specialist bookshops and library systems. The reference value is independent of access to the physical collection.