An Ormolu And Champleve Enamel Lamp - House Barbedienne

Lamp base, gilded bronze and cloisonné enamel on a yellow background.

The Maison Barbedienne was rewarded with countless prices during the great Universal Exhibitions of the 19th century. The first attempts to create those cloisonné enamel took place in the 1855's. In 1862, the Barbedienne enameled objects made a splash and were described as “opaque, cloisonné and flush enamels in the style of the ancients”, these enamels are in fact closer in appearance to medieval champlevé examples (M. Bascou) than to oriental cloisonné.