The infrastructure of these items is made of copper and their outer surfaces are decorated with enameling (Minakari) paintings. An introductin to Minakari Minakari material is a glass powder that is produced in different colors and is combined with a special oil and it is used for painting and decorating metal, pottery, porcelain and glass dishes and objects. Painted objects are baked in the oven to stabilize the color. This process is collectively called victorious enameling (Minakari in Persian). Gold is the only metal that does not oxidize when melted, so it is possible to apply finer enamel patterns on it, but today this art is mostly done on copper. Enameling has been done in different parts of Iran for a long time, but today the city of Isfahan is the main center for creating enamel artworks.
Quality criteria for Minakari products
Currently, Minakari is mostly done on copper objects. The most important criteria for evaluating the quality of Minakari works are:
Enamel infrastructure should be uniform and free of excess parts.
The edges of the infrastructure should be free of green color caused by oxidation and their surface should be free of cracks and shouldnt be sharp.
The support surface of the container should be perfectly smooth and even.
Enamel glaze should be free of cracks, nick, scurf, bubbles, holes and roughness and its thickness should be the same in all areas and there should be no bulge points on the surface of the
object.
The surface of the enamel dish should be sufficiently shiny.The gloss and smoothness of enamel dishes indicate the use of high-quality paint and their good cooking in the oven, but if you feel
rough and uneven when touching the dishes, it is a sign of poor quality.
The color thickness in painting and enamel decoration should be uniform and the colors used at the border of the designs should not be combined together.
In coloring, the original design must be preserved and the painting done with the utmost care. The created patterns must be clean and delicately worked.
The back of the dish should have high quality glaze without cracks and nick.
