I 



METAL INDUSTRY. 429 



and in general, the imperfections of the first, coarse work are over- 

 come. 



Engraving, to carve in, to incise, is called in Japan also Horu, 

 but likewise Kiri-tsuke, and is nearly related to chasing. It is 

 done with the knife (0-gatane) and the bent graver (Tagane), and 

 usually serves for the decoration of flat surfaces, not of raised work. 

 Hori-mono is the name given to every kind of graven or chased 

 work, and the article thus decorated is called Hori-mono-zaiku. 



Damascening, Japanese Zogan (German Tauschirung, French 

 Damasquinure), is the name given to the inlaying of wires and 

 fine strips of gold and silver in the furrows of baser metals. Iron, 

 steel, bronze and copper especially are damascened. The orna- 

 mentation stretched out beforehand must be engraved according 

 to the pattern with the burin, or hollowed with the chisel. The 

 furrows which are produced with the former, have in the cross 

 section the form of a swallow's tail, or are made " under cut " as 

 the bent graver is held in receiving the blows of the hammer, first 

 vertically, then inclined, once to the right and once to the left. 



In this way both the outer edges of the furrow, which grows 

 larger towards the inside, are beaten back, welt fashion. They are 

 then filed off smooth, and the prepared piece of precious metal 

 (wire or plate) is laid in the furrow and driven in with a hammer. 

 The Japanese distinguish three kinds of work according to the 

 manner in which this is done, as they do in gold lacquer work, as 

 follows : 



a. Taka-zogan, i.e. raised damascene work in which the gold and 

 silver, like the a jour precious stone in its setting, for the most part 

 projects over the furrow, 



b. Hira-zogan, flat damascening in which the inlaid precious 

 metal does not project over the surface of that metal decorated 

 with it. 



c. Nuno-me-zogan, i.e. damascening in meshes. That variety of 

 Hira-zogan which is used chiefly as a universal surface decoration, 

 such as plate XVII. shows on both sides of the vine border, as well 

 as the clouds in fig. 17, receives this designation. The cobweb 

 on the bronze vase, plate XVIIL, and the handle ornament on 

 fig. 15, are specimens of simple Hira-zogan, while raised damas- 

 cening is what we see in the girls' figures, and other forms in plate 

 XVII., as well as in several of the following illustrations. 



The expression damascening is now used generally as a synonym 

 for inlaying. In its secondary significance, the etched mirror-like 

 decorations of silky lustre on steel and iron are understood.^ 



^ In Europe, the beginning of the art of inlaying is traced back by anti- 

 quarians generally to the Celts. I do not share this opinion, and think the 

 artistic sense and ability of this people was too little developed, and that the 

 discovered works attributed to them do not originate with them, but with 

 the Romans. These latter certainly understood and practised the inlaying of 

 iron weapons and armour when they came into contact with the Celts. Proofs 



