Enamel is a heat-fused glass paste colored by meta oxides and used to decorate metal surfaces. The art of 'Minakari' or Enameling is the decoration of metal and tile with mina glaze. Enamel was associated with lapidary, glass-working, and gold-smithing crafts and was probably used primarily in place of precious stones before the 17th century. A variety of textual sources and a few datable examples suggest that at that time champleve enameling and enamel painting - sometimes in slight relief, in transparent and opaque colors on gold, copper, and silver - began to appear in Persia. The flowering of this craft may be attributed, at least partly, to the influence of European and Russian enameled wares sent to Persia as diplomatic gifts. A wide range of objects - including arms and armors, jeqqas (ornaments used on hats, turbans, and crowns), vessels, qalians (waterpipe bases), mirrors, Koran and amulet boxes, snuffboxes, and inkpots for pencases - were decorated with enamel.
