The importation of painted enameling from Europe spurred the development of painted enamels at the Qing court during the late Kangxi era. The Enameling Atelier of the Office of Imperial Manufactories applied the new art form to at least four distinct media (bronze, glass, porcelain, and Yixing stoneware). Guided personally by the emperor, the atelier diligently experimented with new raw materials and technologies to create the distinctive category of imperial painted enamel. By reexamining the Western-style elements and documentary evidence of painted enameling at the Qing court, this paper argues that use of painted enameling by the imperial ateliers did not merely stem from what previous studies have interpreted as the imperial fascination with a new art form, but was in fact a serious attempt on the part of Emperor Kangxi to surpass the painted enamels of Europe and the traditional overglaze-enameled porcelains developed in the Ming dynasty.