History of enamel

Ancient Persians used this method for coloring and ornamenting the surface of metals by fusing
over it brilliant colors that are decorated in an intricate design and called itMeenakari.
Mina is the feminine form of Minoo in Persian, meaning heaven. Mina refers to the Azure color of
heaven. The Iranian craftsmen of Sasanied era invented this art and Mongols spread it to India
and other countries.
[2]
The ancient Egyptians applied enamels to stone objects, pottery, and
sometimes jewelry, though to the last less often than in other ancient Middle Eastern cultures.
The ancient Greeks, Celts, Georgians, and Chinese also used enamel on metal objects.
[3]

Enamel was also used to decorate glass vessels during the Roman period, and there is evidence
of this as early as the late Republican and early Imperial periods in the Levant, Egypt, Britain and
around the Black Sea.
[4]
Enamel powder could be produced in two ways, either by powdering
colored glass, or by mixing colorless glass powder with pigmentssuch as a metallic oxide.
[5]

Designs were either painted freehand or over the top of outline incisions, and the technique
probably originated in metalworking.
[4]
Once painted, enameled glass vessels needed to be fired
at a temperature high enough to melt the applied powder, but low enough that the vessel itself
was not melted.
Production is thought to have come to a peak in the Claudian period and persisted for somethree
hundred years,
[4]
though archaeological evidence for this technique is limited to some forty
vessels or vessel fragments.
[4]
French tourist, Jean Chardin, who toured Iran during
the Safavid rule, made a reference to an enamel work of Isfahan, which comprised a pattern of
birds and animals on a floral background in light blue, green, yellow and red. Gold has been used
traditionally for Meenakari Jewellery as it holds the enamel better, lasts longer and its luster
brings out the colors of the enamels.
Silver, a later introduction, is used for artifacts like boxes, bowls, spoons, and art pieces while
Copper which is used for handicraft products were introduced only after the Gold Control Act,
which compelled the Meenakars to look for a material other than gold, was enforced in India.
[2]

Initially, the work of Meenakari often went unnoticed as this art was traditionally used as a
backing for the famous kundan or stone-studded jewellery. This also allowed the wearer to
reverse the jewelry as also promised a special joy in the secret of the hidden design.
[6]

In European art history, enamel was at its most important in the Middle Ages, beginning with the
Late Romans and then the Byzantines, who began to use cloisonn enamel in imitation of
cloisonn inlays of precious stones. This style was widely adopted by the "barbarian" peoples
of Migration Period northern Europe. The Byzantines then began to use cloisonn more freely to
create images; this was also copied in Western Europe. The champlev technique was
considerably easier and very widely practiced in the Romanesqueperiod. In Gothic art the finest
work is in basse-taille and ronde-bosse techniques, but cheaper champlev works continued to
be produced in large numbers for a wider market.
From either Byzantium or the Islamic world, the cloisonn technique reached China in the 13-
14th centuries. The first written reference to cloisonn is in a book from 1388, where it is called
"Dashi ('Muslim') ware".
[7]
No Chinese pieces that are clearly from the 14th century are known;
the earliest datable pieces are from the reign of the Xuande Emperor(142535), which, since
they show a full use of Chinese styles, suggest considerable experience in the technique.
Cloisonn remained very popular in China until the 19th century and is still produced today. The
most elaborate and most highly valued Chinese pieces are from the early Ming Dynasty,
especially the reigns of the Xuande Emperor and Jingtai Emperor (145057), although 19th
century or modern pieces are far more common.
[8]
Starting from the mid-19th century, the
Japanese also produced large quantities of very high technical quality.
[9]


Grey clouds, typical enamel cooking gear from the Dutch DRU factory, popular in the 1950s
More recently, the bright, jewel-like colors have made enamel a favored choice for jewelry
designers, including the Art Nouveau jewelers, for designers of bibelots such as the eggs
of Peter Carl Faberg and the enameled copper boxes of the Battersea enamellers, and for
artists such as George Stubbs and other painters of portrait miniatures.
A resurgence in enamel-based art took place near the end of the 20th century in the Soviet
Union, led by artists like Alexei Maximov andLeonid Efros. In Australia, abstract artist Bernard
Hesling brought the style into prominence with his variously sized steel plates.
[10]

Enamel was first applied commercially to sheet iron and steel in Austria and Germany in about
1850.
[11]
Industrialization increased as the purity of raw materials increased and costs decreased.
The wet application process started with the discovery of the use of clay to suspendfrit in water.
Developments that followed during the 20th century include enameling-grade steel, cleaned-only
surface preparation, automation, and ongoing improvements in efficiency, performance, and
quality.
[12]

Properties[edit]
Vitreous enamel can be applied to most metals. Most modern industrial enamel is applied to
steel in which the carbon content is controlled to prevent unwanted reactions at the firing
temperatures. Enamel can also be applied to copper, aluminium,
[13]
stainless steel,
[14]
cast iron or
hot rolled steel,
[15]
as well as to gold and silver.
Vitreous enamel has many excellent properties: it is smooth, hard, chemically resistant, durable,
scratch resistant (5-6 on the Mohs scale), has long-lasting color fastness, is easy to clean, and
cannot burn. Enamel is glass, not paint, so it does not fade under ultraviolet light.
[16]
A
disadvantage of enamel is a tendency to crack or shatter when the substrate is stressed or bent,
but modern enamels are relatively chip- and impact-resistant because of good thickness control
and thermal expansions well-matched to the metal. The Buick automobile company was founded
by David Dunbar Buick with wealth earned by his development of improved enameling
processes, circa 1887, for sheet steel and cast iron. Such enameled ferrous material had, and
still has, many applications: early 20th century and some modern advertising signs,
interior oven walls, cooking pots, housing and interior walls of major kitchen appliances, housing
and drums of clothes washers and dryers, sinks and cast iron bathtubs, farm storage silos, and
processing equipment such as chemical reactors and pharmaceutical process tanks. Structures
such as filling stations, bus stations and Lustron Houses had walls, ceilings and structural
elements made of enameled steel. One of the most widespread modern uses of enamel is in the
production of quality chalk-boards and marker-boards (typically called 'blackboards' or
'whiteboards') where the resistance of enamel to wear and chemicals ensures that 'ghosting', or
unerasable marks, do not occur, as happens with polymer boards. Since standard enameling
steel is magnetically attractive, it may also be used for magnet boards. Some new developments
in the last ten years include enamel/non-stick hybrid coatings, sol-gel functional top-coats for
enamels, enamels with a metallic appearance, and new easy-to-clean enamels.
[17]

The key ingredient of vitreous enamel is a highly friable form of glass called frit. Frit is typically an
alkali borosilicate chemical with a thermal expansion and glass temperature suitable for coating
steel. Raw materials are smelted together between 2,100 and 2,650 F (1,150 and 1,450 C) into
a liquid glass that is directed out of the furnace and thermal shocked with either water or steel
rollers into frit.
[18]

Color in enamel is obtained by the addition of various minerals, often metal
oxides cobalt, praseodymium, iron, or neodymium. The latter creates delicate shades ranging
from pure violet through wine-red and warm gray. Enamel can be transparent, opaque or
opalescent (translucent), which is a variety that gains a milky opacity with longer firing. Different
enamel colors cannot be mixed to make a new color, in the manner of paint. This produces tiny
specks of both colors, although the eye can be tricked by grinding colors together to an
extremely fine, flour-like powder.
There are three main types of frit, usually applied in sequence. A ground coat is applied first; it
usually contains smelted-in transition metal oxides such as cobalt, nickel, copper, manganese,
and iron that facilitate adhesion to steel. Next, clear and semi-opaque frits that contain material
for producing colors are applied. Finally, a titanium white cover coat frit, supersaturated with
titanium dioxide, creating a bright white color during firing, is applied as the exterior coat.
[citation
needed]

After smelting, the frit needs to be processed into one of the three main forms of enamel coating
material. First, wet process enamel slip (or slurry) is a high solids loading product achieved by
grinding the frit with clay and other viscosity-controlling electrolytes. Second, ready-to-use (RTU)
is a cake-mix form of the wet process slurry that is ground dry and can be reconstituted by mixing
with water at high shear. Finally, electrostatic powder that can be applied as a powder coating is
produced by milling frit with a trace level of proprietary additives. The frit may also be ground as
a powder or into a paste for jewelry or silk-screening applications.

Notes[edit]
1. Jump up^ Campbell, 6
2. ^ Jump up to:
a

b
Meenakari
3. Jump up^ Andrews, A.I. Porcelain Enamels, The Garrard Press: Champaign, IL, 1961 p. 1.
4. ^ Jump up to:
a

b

c

d
Rutti, B., Early Enamelled Glass, in Roman Glass: two centuries of art
and invention, M. Newby and K. Painter, Editors. 1991, Society of Antiquaries of London:
London.
5. Jump up^ Gudenrath, W., Enameled Glass Vessels, 1425 BCE - 1800: The decorating
Process. Journal of Glass Studies, 2006. 48
6. Jump up^ http://www.iranreview.org/content/Documents/The_Art_of_Minakari_2.htm
7. Jump up^ Sullivan, Michael, The arts of China, 4th edn, p. 239, University of California
Press, 1999, Page 239
8. Jump up^ Sullivan, Michael, The arts of China, 4th edn, p. 239, University of California
Press, 1999, ISBN 0-520-21877-9, ISBN 978-0-520-21877-2, Google books
9. Jump up^ "Japanese Cloisonn: the Seven Treasures". Victoria and Albert Museum.
Retrieved 2009-08-30.
10. Jump up^ database and e-research tool for art and design researchers. "Bernard Hesling ::
biography at :: at Design and Art Australia Online". Daao.org.au. Retrieved 2013-12-25.
11. Jump up^ Andrews, Andrew Irving, Porcelain enamels: the preparation, application, and
properties of enamels, Garrard Press, 1961, Page 5
12. Jump up^ Andrews, A.I. Porcelain Enamels, The Garrard Press: Champaign, IL, 1961 p. 5.
13. Jump up^ Judd, Donald, Porcelain Enameling Aluminum: An Overview, Proceedings of the
59th Porcelain Enamel Institute Technical Forum, 45-51 (1997).
14. Jump up^ Sullivan, J.D. and Nelson, F.W., "Stainless Steel Requires Special Enameling
Procedures", Proceedings of the Porcelain Enamel Institute Technical Forum," 150-155
(1970).
15. Jump up^ Pew, Steve, "The Who, What, Why, Where, and When of Cast Iron Enameling,"
Advances in Porcelain Enamel Technology, 177-186, (2010).
16. Jump up^ Fedak, David and Baldwin, Charles, "A Comparison of Enameled and Stainless
Steel Surfaces," Proceedings of the 67th Porcelain Enamel Institute Technical Forum, 45-54
(2005).
17. Jump up^ Gavlenski, Jim and Baldwin, Charles, "Advanced Porcelain Enamel Coatings with
Novel Properties," Proceedings of the 69th Porcelain Enamel Institute Technical Forum, 53-
58, (2007).
18. Jump up^ Andrews, A.I. Porcelain Enamels, The Garrard Press: Champaign, IL, 1961 p.
321-2.
19. Jump up^ Campbell, 7, 33-41
20. Jump up^ Campbell, 7, 17-32
21. Jump up^ Campbell, 6, 10-17
22. Jump up^ "Craft: Jewelry: Brooch". Luce Foundation Center for American Art. Smithsonian
American Art Museum. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
23. Jump up^ Campbell, 7
24. Jump up^ British Museum collection database, "Scope note" for the term "enamelled"; other
sources use different categories.
25. Jump up^ Campbell, 38-42
26. Jump up^ Campbell, 7, 42
27. Jump up^ Feldman, Sid and Baldwin, Charles, "Surface Tension and Fusion Properties of
Porcelain Enamels," Proceedings of the 69th Porcelain Enamel Institute Technical Forum, 1-
10 (2008)
28. Jump up^ Vitreous and porcelain enamels Characteristics of enamel coatings applied to
steel panels intended for architecture. Standards Policy and Strategy Committee.
2008.ISBN 978 0 580 72284 4.
Refer