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Parent Category: Technical Articles from Journal Back Copies

Category: Technical Articles 1998

Dorothy Cockrell, Jack Heard, photos by Helen Sewell

"Do hold and examine it - over its box on the table, of course, so that if a bit of enamel falls off, we can find it without having to crawl around the carpet". "It" was a filigree enamel from 600AD! Actually, there was very little enamel left on it after 1300 years, but we could examine the round gold wire, pre-dating the use of flat cloisonné wire, and understand that the enamel would not have filled the piece, but reflected the light in a slightly dimpled way.

This is the way to visit a museum - no need for trying vainly to get a piece into the right slice of our bifocals or asking a younger visitor to read the label for us. How often have we wondered what the back of an exhibit was like, or what details were invisible due to dim lighting or reflections. David Buckton, Curator of Medieval Enamels and Icons, of the British Museum had two big trays of fascinating enamels for us to inspect, handle and discuss. They ranged from a minute piece (¼cm diameter), to a Thomas a Becket reliquary and a late 19thC forgery of Byzantine enamels.

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