Rain Dance at Zuni, Adam Clark Vroman, ca. 1900 - Rijksmuseum

Medallion: Coronation of the Virgin | Cleveland Museum of Art

The word enamel derives from the Old French <em>esmail</em> and the Old High German <em>smelzen</em>, meaning "to smelt." This is the most crucial process in the making of enamel. To prepare enamel, the constituents of glass (flint, or sand, as well as red lead, and soda or potash) are heated together to form a clear flux. To this a coloring agent (usually a metallic oxide) is added: copper for green, cobalt for blue, iron for red or brown. The enamel is then allowed to cool and solidify in slabs. Before use, each color is separately ground into a fine powder, placed on a prepared metal surface, and fired in a kiln. When cool, the surface is polished to remove any imperfections and add brilliance to the colors. The difference between the various enameling techniques lies chiefly in the methods used to prepare the metal surface for the enamel.

Textile Fragment | Cleveland Museum of Art

This fragment, one of several in the collection, is a rare survivor of catastrophic rains that destroyed much of the Moche textile legacy and may have helped to bring about the decline of Moche culture. It depicts a serpent and a snail beneath a hovering raptorial bird—perhaps a snail kite, a type of hawk named after its favored food. The size of the motifs implies that the original textile was large; a mantle (a shawl-like garment) or a hanging are among the possibilities.

Bottle Cooler France, Saint Cloud, 18th century | Cleveland Museum of Art

The form of these cachepots is entirely typical of Saint-Cloud porcelain of about 1725. Their decoration, based upon Chinese porcelains of the so-called "famille-verte" type, is most unusual. Polychromed enamels were not often employed on Saint-Cloud porcelains, and figural scenes are very rare.

Militair in de regen, Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki, 1779 - Rijksmuseum