Production Process of Cloisonné, Kiyomizu Sannenzaka Museum

How is wire cloisonné enameling done? First, the basic design is drawn on the base vessel (copper, silver, ceramic, etc.). Silver wire is then placed along the outlines of the drawing and glass glaze is poured within the outlines. The vessel is then fired and polished. A copper vessel is used in this example, but during the Meiji period copper vessels were also mainly used. The glaze will drip down during firing if too much is applied at once, so it is important to apply only a small amount of glaze before firing and repeat this process many times over — a process that requires great skills and patience. As the process is quite complex, it must have been difficult to explain it in the past also. In addition to finished objects like vases and incense burners and containers, many samples showing the process of the production were also made oriented toward foreign countries to explain about the technique during the Meiji period, when the exporting of cloisonné ware was at its peak. The sample shown here is also one of such made at the time.