Cloisonné vs Stained Glass
七宝（クロワゾネ） / ステンドグラス
Cloisonné comes from Vessel and Craft Techniques and Stained Glass from Ornament. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.
Cloisonné
A technique of enamelling in which thin metal strips are laid on a metal or porcelain ground to form chambers, and vitreous enamel paste is packed into each chamber. The strips survive the firing as visible metal lines, so every area of colour stays closed inside a line. Getty files it under processes rather than styles.
Stained Glass
Divides light with colored glass and lead lines, making contour itself structure and story.
| Cloisonné | Stained Glass | |
|---|---|---|
| Era | ancient– | medieval–present |
| Family | Vessel and Craft Techniques | Ornament |
| Kind | Technique | Technique |
| Cues | Every area of colour is fenced by a thin metal line, and the lines divide the whole design without a break / No two colours bleed into each other / Only the lines give back the light of metal rather than of glass / The ground is metal or porcelain, so the design wraps a curved vessel instead of sitting on a flat panel | Lead contours / Transmitted color / Geometric division / Jewel tones |
| Best used for | Designing a multicolour version of a crest or a logo where colours are separated rather than blended · Building a diagram or a map in which the outline itself carries the ornament | Symbolic images with light in the leading role · Organizing complex narrative into panels |
| Type | Enclose letters the way the design encloses colour. Avoid typefaces too fine to survive the width of the wire. | Concise letters that hold against the contours |
| Composition | Divide the entire field into closed cells, leaving no area outside a cell. The smallest cell is set by the width the line can hold. | Divide color fields with lead lines around a central figure |
| Material | Fence with metal lines and fill each cell with a glassy colour. Keep the lines the colour of metal and never let one area of colour cross a line. | Deep red, blue, gold, transmitted light, black joints |
| Caution | Drawing the lines as decoration without actually closing the cells lets colour escape and reduces the technique to a mere outline. | Not just translucent gradients. Design the structural lines that carry the color fields. |