A variant spelling of champleve, a decorative metalworking technique where grooves are carved into metal and filled with colored enamel.
Variant of champleve, from French 'champ levé' meaning 'raised field.' The technique was developed in medieval times and the French name described how the background metal was raised relative to the recessed grooves.
Champleve is one of the oldest enamel techniques—medieval artisans discovered that if you carved grooves into copper or bronze and filled them with colored glass that could be fused with heat, you'd get permanent, brilliant decorations that lasted centuries.
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