ENGRAVING. 



ENGRAVING. 



period* on record, in liuiilar manner and with itimiUr inrtrumout* 

 to thioe used t the present time. Kxiv|>t incidentally, however, we 

 hall confine our attention in the preeent article to incited engraving 

 <>B mUl plate*. Engraving on wood ; on genu ; and of diee for coin* 

 awl medal* will be treated under Mparafe article*. [ WOOD E.NUKA \ i s . . ; 

 I'Aiiiii; INTAM.IO; Coixu; I 1 i ; MKDAIA] 



On referring to aacred history we find in the writing* of Mose* 

 rather detailed aooount* of the character of the engraved worlu 

 outod in bia time, and of the substances whereon they were 



wrought; nor are wo Mt in ignorance even of the name* i the 

 ' i among the Israelite). Thus from the book of ExodAM 

 we learn* that when Mo*e* had liberated the Jew* from Egyptian 



. : ' 



bondage, he wai commanded to " make a plate of pure gold, ami grave 

 upon it, like the engraving* of a aignet, holiness to the Lord." He 

 waa also cumn and tl " to take two onyx atones, and grave on them the 

 name* of the children of Israel according to their birth, with the work 

 of an engraver on stone, like the engraving* of a signet." Both these 

 {aaages distinctly imply the practice of gem and seal engraving, and 

 also of engraving on metal plates, a knowledge of which, among other 

 art*, was, without doubt, acquired by the Israelites during their 

 captivity in Egypt; and specimens of the art as practised in that 

 nation, perhaps at as early a period as that now under notice, still 

 exist. In the book of Exodus also honourable mention is made of 

 one Beialeel, who appears to have united the callings of the engraver, 

 the jeweller, and the lapidary ; and it is said that he " was filled with 

 wisdom of heart to work all manner of work with the graver, as well 

 as to devise cunning works ; to work in gold, and in silver, and in 

 brass, and in cutting of stones to set them." " And it was put into 

 his heart that both he and Aholiab might teach them that were filled 

 with wisdom to work all manner of work of the engraver." These are 

 selected from numerous other passage* in Scripture as sufficiently 

 attesting the practice of several branches of engraving at this early 

 period : from the same source indeed we learn that some of them, as 

 for example, the engraving of signets, was practised at a time anterior 

 to that of Moses. 



The hieroglyphics and other remains of Egyptian incised work are 

 the moat ancient examples of the art existing, and among the most 

 ancient relics of early civilisation now extant. The British Museum is 

 particularly rich in such specimens, some of which are engraved on 

 metal, and have been chiefly found in the coffins or cases of mummies. 

 These engravings of hieroglyphic* on metal, as well as those on the 

 ancient sarcophagi, are evidently executed with similar instruments to 

 those now in use : some of the lines narrowing downwards have clearly 

 been cut with the lozenge-shaped graver now chiefly used ; but other 

 lines, being of the same width through their whole depth, must have 

 been produced with that species of graver called a scooper, still used 

 for effecting broad incisions. Only a single step indeed was needed for 

 the Egyptians to have made the discovery of engraving in the sense of 

 the definition at the head of this article. They used colours for various 

 purposes, and they made paper, but the idea of filling the incisions in 

 their metal plates with colour and taking off an impression on paper 

 never occurred to them ; nor did it occur to any other people for 

 more than 3000 years later. That only this single step was re- 

 quired has been shown by the fact of impressions being actually taken 

 on paper from these Egyptian engravings : among others from one 

 of the very oldest in the British Museum, a plate found in a mummy 

 chest by Dr. Mead. Like the Egyptians, the ancient Assyrians 

 engraved both on stone and metal ; they even went so far as to 

 take impressions from their incised slab.-*, but it was in clay instead 

 of on paper, and simply in relief, and not by means of ink or any 

 coloured vehicle. 



From Herodotus (v. 49) we learn that one of the earliest uses to 

 which engraving was applied among the Greeks was the delineation of 

 map* on metal plate*. He say* that " Aristagoras appeared before the 

 king of Sparta with a tablet of brass in his hand, on which was inscribed 

 every part of the habitable world, the seas, and the rivers ; and to this 

 he pointed as he spoke of the several countries between the Ionian SIM 

 and Susa." The date of this event was 600 B.C. The engraving of 

 metal* with incised pattern* for ornamental purposes was also much 

 practised by the Greek*. Among the Etruscans, incised work was much 

 in vogue from a very remote period ; and print* which have been taken 

 from Etruscan mirrors, of which there are several in the British 

 Museum, sufficiently attest the capacity of these early engravings to 

 deliver impression*. 



In the peninsula of India, also, the art of engraving on plates of 

 copper appear* to have been practised long before the Christian era. 

 It would appear that it was there customary to ratify grants of land by 

 deed* of transfer actually engraven on plates of copper, a* we now 

 write them on skins of parchment. A copy of one of these very 

 interesting relic* U given with an English translation by Mr. Wilkins, 

 in the first volume of the ' Asiatic Kcaearches,' page 123. It is in the 

 Sanscrit language, and bears date twenty year* before the birth of 

 Christ. Engraving was probably practiced by the Chinese at a Still 

 earlier period. It would, however, be idle to follow further among the 

 ancient* a proce** that may in fact be said to have prevailed in every 

 country where civilisation had made any progress. 



After the fall of the Roman empire incised engraving on metal 

 plate* continued to be pursued by Byzantine artist* ; and throughout 



idle ages the art wa* practised in Italy, Germany, and other 



-. Ecclesiastical inatruraent* of various kind*, weapons, 



tide* of personal ornament and household UM, of medieval 



the middle age* the art wa* 

 part* 01 



and article* of personal 



date with engraved designs, often of admin' n, .< found 



in almost every public museum, and in numerous private mil. 

 The metal sepulchral alab*, or brane* as they are termed [ BHASHES], 

 of France and the Netherlands, and once so general in -.< 

 churches, were executed entirely with the graver, and in precisely the 

 same manner that a copper-plate is now engraved whi. h is intended to 

 be printed from ; but a* they were commonly exposed to the feet of 

 -nation, the stroke* were out deep that they mi^ht endure the 

 longer, and consequently very neat workmanship U not to be ex- 

 pected. Some of them, however, especially those of the 13th and 1 1th 

 centuries, bear evidence of considerable ability in the work- 



We now approach the period when the invention of printing (. 

 engraving a new direction, and produced an effect on the 

 of the world a* astonishing as it is incalculable. The rhirf .(..- 

 printing had already been removed by the manuf.icturc of |ipvr from 

 linen rags, which had become generally known in Europe at the latter 

 end of the 14th century. It must be remembered, as giving addi 

 interest to this subject, that it is to a certain class of engravers that 

 we are immediately indebted for the firtt printed books, which were 

 actually impressed from engraved wooden tablets a method which 

 was afterwards improved by substituting movable metal type- 

 thus the arts of engraving and printing, at the same time that they 

 constitute the sole means by which all kinds of knowledge may be 

 extensively diffused, have placed it within the power of all to 

 possess the thoughts of the best men in literature, science, and art. 



The first prints, a* we have already intimated, were obtained from 

 engraved wood blocks. This might naturally be expected, because the 

 process of printing from such work* is so simple and obviou 

 requiring even a press, that persons of reflection are astonish < 

 that printing was invented so soon, but that it had not been discovered 

 sooner. To obtain impressions from the incised hollows of an engraved 

 metal plate, on the contrary, is a much less obvious process, rfi 

 the aid of a somewhat complicated machine, called a rolling-press. \Ve 

 need not wonder, therefore, that its discovery should have been later ; 

 and, indeed, the two processes are so very different, that when one was 

 discovered it did not lead necessarily to the other. 



The earliest print with a date attached to it is one known as t 

 Christopher, which is from a wood block, and datt 1 1 1^.". : but no 

 impression from an engraved plate has been found with a date for 

 many years later. It bos long been a disputed question whether the 

 art of engraving on metal plates for taking impressions on pajnsr origi- 

 nated in Italy or Germany. According to Vasari, it originated from 

 a discovery made by Maso Finneguerra, a Florentine goldsmith and 

 worker in niello, about the year 1 450 ; and this is the view commonly 

 adopted by English, though contested by German, writers. Be that as 

 it may, there has never existed a doubt that the art had its origin in 

 the workshops of the goldsmiths about the middle of the 15th century. 

 Many of these goldsmiths were nullatori, or workers in niello, a mode 

 of ornamental engraving usually performed on -. the design 



engraved on which was afterwards filled in with a black o 

 which from its colour was called by the ancieni . a word eur 



tailed by the Italians into niello. [NIELLO.] This being run into tin 

 engraved bines, produced the effect of shadow, and had very much the 

 appearance of a print. It was usual with the artists who woi 

 niello to ascertain the appearance of their work at different stage* 

 of its progress by biking costs in soft earth of the portions executed. 

 Upon these caste they poured melted sulphur, and thus obtained a 

 far-simile of their engraving. Then, by rubbing a mixture of lamp- 

 black and oil into the design on the sulphur, they were able to juil^e 

 what would be the effect of the work previous to inlaying v, < ; 

 nigellum or mixture of silver and lead. According to Vasari and the 

 Italian writers, it occurred to Finneguerra to try if the same result would 

 follow on apiece of moistened paper if laid over the design thus tilled 

 with ink and pressed by a roller. The experiment succeeded ; anil the 

 consequence was the gradual improvement of the new art both in his 

 hands and those of Baccio Baldini, Sandro Botticelli. Antonio Polla- 

 juoli, and Andrea Mantegna, to whom he communicated the process. 



Examples of these sulphur-casts from nielli (or sulphurs," as they 

 are technically designated) still exist in the museums of the Continent 

 and also in the British Museum. In the British Museum is 

 great interest in the history of the art of engraving, it having been 

 taken from a niello in Maso Finneguerra' s famous Pax, executed by 

 direction of the Guild of Merchants of Florence for the Baptistery of 

 that city, and now in the Florence Museum. But the Imperial Col- 

 lection in Paris possesses an impression printed on paper from the 

 silver plate of this very Pax, prior to the insertion of the niello. Nov. 

 it appears from the great book of the Mercatanti of Florence, eiteil by 

 Gaye (' Carteggio inedito d'artisti dei secoli 14, 15, 16.' 8vo, Firenze, 

 1839, i. p. 112), that this Pax wa* executed in 1450, and hence it has 

 been supposed, from that year being given as the date of the discovery, 

 and from there existing both a sulphur and an impression on paper, 

 that this is the very plate upon which the experiment was first tried. 

 At any rate, it has been regarded as having " established the claim of 

 the Italian* to the discovery of taking off impressions on paper from 

 incised metal plate*." 



