Sugar tongs
ARTIST / MAKER:
Unknown
DATE:
ca.1904 (made)
PLACE:
Norway (made)
MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES:
Silver-gilt with plique-à-jour enamels
COLLECTION NUMBER:
622
These sugar tongs are decorated with clear multicoloured enamels, a technique known as plique-à-jour. Due to the difficulty of fusing the coloured enamels into the spaces of the wire framework, plique-à-jour has a high failure rate, but when successful, it produces a translucent effect similar to stained glass. The technique was popular in France in the 1860s and in Norway at the turn of the 20th century.