French Porcelain, Gilt-Bronze & Champleve Vase. The Hand-Painted Porcelain Body Signed "Rene" At Lower Right, The Whole Atop A White Marble Base. Size 6" H Champlev???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? is an enamelling technique in the decorative arts, or an object made by that process, in which troughs or cells are carved, etched, die struck, or cast into the surface of a metal object, and filled with vitreous enamel. The piece is then fired until the enamel fuses, and when cooled the surface of the object is polished. The uncarved portions of the original surface remain visible as a frame for the enamel designs; typically they are gilded in medieval work. The name comes from the French for "raised field", "field" meaning background, though the technique in practice lowers the area to be enamelled rather than raising the rest of the surface.