This object is cloisonné enamel, the craft where metal is bent, filled with glass and fired until colour sits flush in a wired cell. the Ming workshop made it a court speciality.
The pattern is the argument. Cloisonné enamel builds colour from the inside out, each cell a small field bounded by brass, so the object reads as order made visible.
The Ming court ran its porcelain and enamel workshops as instruments of state, and the reign mark on a piece named the emperor as much as the object.
A object like this outlived the fashion that produced it. The cloisonné enamel still glows, which is the only immortality the workshop ever promised.
Object details
| Name | Cloisonné enamel Emperor Ming’s horse trial hanging screen (掐丝珐琅明皇试马图挂屏) |
|---|---|
| Artefact no. | 故00209251 |
| Technique | Cloisonné enamel (掐丝珐琅) |
| Period | Ming dynasty (1368-1644 CE) |
| Collection | The Palace Museum, Beijing |
| Source | Palace Museum Digital Collection (数字文物库) |
Image © The Palace Museum. View the original in the Palace Museum Digital Collection.