A technique that consists of adorning the surface of glass with decorative motifs using painted on enamels -- very fine vitrifiable powders, pigmented with divers oxides, which, owing to the presence of an easily fusible base element, melt when fired at low temperatures. These glass powders are converted into a paste by the addition of an oily substance like gum arabic to facilitate painting; for production purposes, enamels can also be sprayed on over stencils. This procedure, instead of using slow drying oils, requires a faster drying medium like wax or resin. Enamels can be applied in layers of varying thickness depending on the quantity of medium ( that is to say oil, wax, resin, etc.) used in the paste. Firing enamels rarely poses any major difficulties, but must be well controlled, especially when working with blown glass. Firing happens below 600° C, at which point the enamels become transparent or opaque depending on their composition.

This technique is derived from the use of enamels on precious metals in the art of jewelry making. Although present in the Roman empire, enameling was most developed in Syria and Egypt, at times displaying remarkable mythological designs. A favored technique in Islamic glass beginning in the VIIIth century, enameling is celebrated in refined and costly pieces of increasingly complex composition based on floral motifs, arabesques or calligraphic designs, like the spectacular mosque lamps of the XIVth century. Great breakthroughs in enameling were made in Venice in the XVth century as shown in the famous Coppa Barovier preserved in the Murano museum. This wedding piece of elaborate figurative decor is typical of the Renaissance. Enameling remains fashionable in the XVIth and XVIIth centuries, particularly in Germany where not only are the prestigious glassworks producing massive “humpen” of princely and imperial character, but ordinary glassworks are producing goblets, for example, which illustrate with naivety scenes from popular folk tales. This tradition passed down through history from the Middle East experienced a return to glory in France at the end of the XIXth century in the decorative art of Joseph Emile Broccard and Emile Gallé. The Daum brothers also showcased enameling in their decorative coats of arms, landscapes and floral designs. In the 1930’s August Heiligenstein continues to explore the sumptuous possibilities of this highly decorative type of work, while Marcel Goupy’s work with enamels is more soberly pictorial.

These days, Erwin Eisch, the Bavarian pioneer of the Studio Glass movement, has latched onto this pictorial technique with impertinent verve and extraordinary freshness commensurate with his expressive talent; while Holland’s Mieke Groot is working in an innovative manner to coat her blown pieces with enamel, creating a tactile epidermis, refined in its cracks, texture and roughness.

LIEFKES Reino “Victoria and Albert Museum-Glass”, V § A editions, Londres, 1997 BRAY Charles, “Dictionary of Glass”, A§CBlack”, Londres, 1995