Chinese Cloisonne, a before and after view of the ageing process, remedied.

Back to my old love, Asian cloisonne antiques, because we are in the midst of a new swell of interest and much cloisonne pieces being auctioned off right now, with really great prices. Especially the Chinese cloisonne from late 19th to early 20th.

This post is about the very worn, oxidized and discolored cloisonne from 1oo years and more production. Recently I found a small Chinese box with those issues, did not look like much, but I could see from the shape and the detail of the design, that it was a good piece initially.

I learned to clean and reduce the amount of residue and tarnish, to improve the aesthetic again. Some might say I should leave it asis but with cloisonne, since most of the metal wires and surface metals will go black with age, unless generously applied with gold, the idea is to find out what the metal and surface was, and this will enable you to date your cloisonne item.

Here it seems we have a copper vessel finished with silver, an open work type of floral cloisonne on the sides, and a blue medallion of pretty cloisonne on the top, with a Spring season motif. The base is silvered copper metal that was impressed with the country of provenance, CHINA.

The interior is very odd, a broken surface of enamel that was covered with a clear acrylic substance, the top also had this finish which became cloudy when it deteriorated. Removed with a baking soda and water paste as they suggest in Japan to restore cloisonne surfaces.