Early Japanese cloisonné or “Shippo” was doubtless derived from Chinese or Persian sources, and it is characterised by extremely thin beaten copper grounds and the frequent use of a dark green ground in place of the dark blue of the Chinese cloisonné. The Japanese cloisonné reached its culmination during the last century, when many splendid examples of refined and delicate enamels were produced, remarkable for their beautiful opalescent and translucent colour. Gold cloisons with opaque and translucent enamels were frequently inserted in iron or silver objects by the Japanese of this period. An early example of English cloisonné is the jewel of King Alfred, now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford: this has a rich setting of opaque and translucent enamels. A fine Celtic cloisonné treatment may be seen in the Ardage chalice, where the cloisons were cut out of a plate of silver and embedded in the enamel while soft. These Celtic craftsmen also had a beautiful treatment of enamelling by engraving or pressing a pattern in intaglio, or sunk relief, on an enamelled ground, and then filling these intaglios with other enamels. A most exquisite kind of enamel called “_Plique à Jour_,” was used by the Byzantines; this was composed of open filigree cloisons, filled with translucent enamels. CHAMPLEVÉ enamel is formed by engraving, casting or scooping out the cloisons from a metal plate, leaving a thin wall or boundary between each cloison, which is then filled with the various enamels as in the cloisonné method. This Champlevé method was practised in Britain before the Roman conquest, and was probably derived from the Phœnicians, who, centuries before the Romans came to England, had traded with Cornwall for tin. The beauty of colour and perfect adaptability of these early enamelled brooches, fibulæ and trappings of horses of the early Britons and Celts, are remarkable, showing a fine sense of colour and a harmony of line and mass. A splendid bronze Celtic shield (fig. 4, plate 13), now in the British Museum, is enriched with fine red bosses of enamel. These Champlevé enamels upon bronze have usually an opalescent or cloudy appearance caused by the fusion of the tin in the bronze alloy during firing. Champlevé enamels were used with rare skill and refinement to enhance the beautiful art of the goldsmith during the Middle Ages; the Chalice, the Paten, the Reliquary, the Thurible, the Crozier, and the bookcovers of the Churches, especially, were enriched with beautiful enamels. Classed among the Champlevé enamels is that method called JEWELLER’S ENAMEL or “_Baisse Taille_,” in which the plate is engraved in low relief or beaten up in repoussé and then flooded with translucent enamel. The Lynn cup of the time of Richard II. is one of the oldest pieces of corporation plate and is covered with fine translucent blue and green enamels.