Susan Benjamin (1) (1921–)

This thin volume has 33 color illustrations of some of the most beautiful enamels in the world and 100 black and white. All the enamels described are glass fused to a metal foundation. The writer describes the process and how it was done historically; how it has evolved over time; where it is now.
She covers the early origins of enamel type work and extant examples from Egypt, Byzantium, Persia, India, China, Japan, Russia, and Scandinavia and discusses some of the artistic details of the enamel examples still to be seen from these countries.
The continent of Europe is treated separately with the history of the Holy Roman Empire, the Carolingian and Ottonian Empires and Spain, Venice, France and Germany. Some names of European enamelers are known and remembered since enamel is a time consuming and expensive process that was mainly the perview of the nobility and the Church. Great Britain merits a chapter of its own.
There is a one page glossary that is fairly inclusive in the back and a nice reading and reference list that includes, "A Technical Study of Opaque Red Glass of the Iron Age in Britain." Proceedings of the PreHistoric Society, Cambridge, England, 1972 by Hughes, M. J. that I would love to get my hands on. She also has a list of public displays of enamels around the world and a fairly comprehensive index.
It was an informative and enjoyable read. Not so much a how-to, as informative about the art itself.… (altro)