Intricately detailed image of a Phoenix bird with clouds and flowers done in enamel on a curved copper box. Inspired by items in our own Asian export collection, and handpicked for the shop. The Phoenix has positive connotations. It is a symbol of virtue and grace. This beautiful box is the perfect way to honor and celebrate the Phoenix's symbolism of virtue and grace while still enjoying a beautiful, one-of-a-kind piece of art. --- W8"xD4.25"xH2.25" As a substitute for the more costly process of inlaying with precious or semiprecious stones, enamelwork was developed to give the surface of metal objects a vitreous glaze by intense heat to create a brilliantly colored decorative effect. Enamel is a kind of soft glass, compounded of flint or sand, red lead, and soda or potassium. These materials are melted together, producing an almost clear glass flux with a slightly bluish or greenish tinge. Clear flux is the base from which colored enamels are made, the coloring agent being a metallic oxide, introduced into the flux when it is in a molten state. Otherwise, the addition of calx, a mixture of tin and calcined lead, renders translucent enamels opaque. Solidified "cakes" of cooled enamel are pulverized into a fine powder. The powder then is spread on the metal object's surface and is dried in front of the furnace before introduced into the muffle of the furnace itself. The vessel being heated to the point at which the enamel fuses and adheres to its metal base, the firing of enamel takes only a few minutes.Painted enamels in China are also called Canton enamels as this city was the principal seat of their manufacture. This technique is directly influenced by Western art, and a great part of Canton enamels was indeed produced for export.
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