In this essay I will discuss the techniques of medieval enameling artists and how and why a piece was made. During my research on the subject of enamelling, I became interested in both cloisonné and champlevé techniques. Generally, these are the main techniques used by the medieval goldsmith. But since I didn't want this essay to read like a textbook, I wanted to expand on the type of pieces and why they were made. Enamel has been used since Mycenaean metalworkers began decorating gold beads, around 1450 BC. The Celts were arguably the next to develop enamel techniques, as they used enamel well before the expansion of the Roman Empire. Philostratus, a Greek philosopher, first discussed enamelling in AD 200: “These colors, they say, the barbarians of the [Atlantic] ocean spread on the hot bronze; they take shape, become solid and preserve what has been represented” (Icons, I, xxxviii). But it was the Byzantine goldsmiths between the 4th and 10th centuries who made the technique of enamelling an art form. They took the technique of cloisonné enamelling and developed it to produce highly stylized figurative works. In this technique, flat wire or partitions from the French word meaning partition or flap are used to outline designs that have been incised onto thin gold leaf by master designers. The partitions were then soldered to the sheets and the base roughened before the resulting cells were filled with enamel using a quill pen. They then placed the pieces in an oven-like device that was heated with a charcoal fire. Then, after slow cooling, they were highly polished. The resulting enamels were beautiful works of art that would influence the development of Western enamelling. The Fiesch...... middle of paper...... artists. The quality of the execution is evident. Not only did these artists possess a keen sense of beauty, but they possessed a highly developed sense of design that cannot be denied. Works Cited Michael Camille, The Medieval Art of Love: Objects and Subjects of Desire (New York: Abrams, 1998.),11-13http://www.metmuseum.org/publications/bulletins/1/pdf/3258994 .pdf.bannered.pdf Internet accessed March 24, 2011Reliquary of the True Cross (Staurotheke) [Byzantine] (17.190.715ab)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http: //www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/17.190.715abInternet; accessed March 17, 2011The history and symbolism of iconography http://www.monasteryicons.com/cgi-bin/hazel. .cgi?action=SERVE&item=tools/article_detail.hzml&request=articledetail&article=1Internet, accessed March 24 ; 2011.