| Original Message: Twisted wire |
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Frederick, would you mind getting out your loupe to examine the cloisone bead with the twisted wires to see if they, as well as the enamel, were ground level? They appear to be so in the photo. The Chinese use of twisted wire cloisonne seems to be a constant from Mandarin necklace beads to the present, where it is the technique of choice for cheap and colorful trinkets, as it requires no grinding of the enamel. The wires always stick up above the glass (or epoxy, as it may be nowadays), as the cloisons are only filled once and then fired, so the enamel sinks into the wells and maintains its glossy firepolish. I have yet to see a Chinese piece, other that some from the Kuo factory in Taiwan, that uses twisted wire for anything except the fill-once-and-firepolish method. However, Japanese cloisonne work sometimes displays the use of twisted wire, often in the same design as flat or tapered wire, with the enamel surface polished smooth, wires and enamel at the same level. Very experimental? Curiously, this blend of twisted wires and flat wires in the same piece also shows up in pieces from the Kuo factory in Taiwan, 1970s-80s. [pic attached] I've often wondered if the Taiwanese cloisonne craftspeople adopted Japanese transparent enamels and twisted wire and eschewed the opaque mainland enamels that were unavailable to them because, as Nationalists, they had fled the country; and Japan, during the 50 years they occupied Taiwan, likely established some cloisonne workshops in the usual course of small business expansion into new territories? Also Japan was handy as a source of the enamels? More unsolved mysteries. All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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