cloisonné

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cloisonné

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1. Decorative enamelwork in which metal filaments are fused to the surface of an object to outline a design that is filled in with enamel paste.
2. The art or process of producing such enamelwork.

[French, past participle of cloisonner, to partition, from Old French cloison, partition, from Vulgar Latin *clausiō, clausiōn-, from Latin clausus, past participle of claudere, to close, lock.]

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A surface decoration in which differently colored enamels or glazes are separated by fillets applied to the design outline. For porcelain enamel, the fillets are wire secured to the metal body; for tile and pottery, the fillets are made of ceramic paste, squeezed through a small-diameter orifice.

1. Type of coloured wall-con-struction consisting of stones of one colour individually framed all round with bricks of another, laid in courses, especially in Byzantine architecture, such as the Katholikon at Hosios Lukas, Styris (c.1020).

2. Surface formed of coloured enamel panels defined by fillets.