champlevé

/shahonn leuh vay"/, adj., n., pl. champlevés /-vay", -vayz"/.

adj.

1. of or pertaining to an enamel piece or enameling technique in which enamel is fused onto the incised or hollowed areas of a metal base.

n.

2. an enamel piece made by the champlevé method.

3. the technique used to produce champlevé enamels.

[1855-60; < F, ptp. of champlever to lift (i.e., take out) a field (i.e., a flat part), make hollow places on the ground to be engraved; see CAMP¹, LEVER]

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Decorative enameling technique.

The process consists of cutting away cells or troughs in a metal plate and filling the depressions with pulverized vitreous enamel. The raised metal lines between the cut-out areas form the design outline. Champlevé was practiced in the Celtic areas of western Europe in the Roman period. It flourished in the Rhine Valley near Cologne and in Belgium in the 11th–12th century. The most notable enamelers were Nicholas of Verdun and Godefroid de Claire.

Detail of a champlevé crucifix by Godefroid de Claire, 12th century; in the British Museum

By courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum

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▪ enamelware

 in the decorative arts, an enameling technique or an object made by the champlevé process, which consists of cutting away troughs or cells in a metal plate and filling the depressions with pulverized vitreous enamel. The raised metal lines between the cutout areas form the design outline. Champlevé can be distinguished from the similar technique of cloisonné by a greater irregularity in the width of the metal lines (see cloisonné). After the enamel has annealed and cooled, it is filed with a Carborundum stone file, smoothed with pumice stone, and polished.

      Knowledge about the early development of champlevé is uncertain. It figured in the Celtic art of western Europe in the Roman period and beyond. Centring in the Rhine River valley around Cologne and in Belgium's Meuse River valley, champlevé production flourished especially during the late 11th and 12th centuries. Among the finest and best-known work was that of the Mosan school centred at the Benedictine abbey of Stavelot near Liège, now in Belgium. Among the period's most famous enamelers were Nicholas Of Verdun, who flourished in Cologne from the second half of the 12th century to the early 13th century, and Godefroid de Claire, who was largely active at Stavelot from around 1130 to 1150. See also Mosan school.

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