Beaten Metal-Work 
pitch, which is poured in hot and allowed to 
cool, giving an elastic resistant body to beat 
on. This last step condenses and polishes 
the outer surface, at the same time making 
the “hammer-marks” which add so much 
to the beauty and interest of hand-wrought 
metal. The charming effect of light on 
these surfaces is shown in the illustration of 
the copper cup, a common example of Rus¬ 
sian peasant work, shown on page 577. 
The hammering process very quickly 
FRONT 
BOOK COVER OF REPOUSSE WORK 
hardens metal, even to making it brittle, so 
it has to be repeatedly annealed. When the 
work is finished, the black oxidized surface 
produced by repeated heating is removed in 
a bath of strong acid, after which it is thor¬ 
oughly washed in running water and dried 
in hot sawdust. 
It is chiefly in the field of repousse orna¬ 
mentation that machine work has been tried 
by tradesmen, with what success is apparent 
in the examples of silver ornament and plate 
exhibited by jewelers. In addition to the 
fact that the designs are usually uninterest¬ 
ing, the results are generally unsatisfactory 
because of the evident mechanical limitation. 
As a rule, commercial repousse has been 
either cast or stamped; the design is then 
worked over or chased and the surface 
carefully but purposely hammer - marked. 
Legitimate repousse is a slow process, often 
BACK 
Designed and Executed by Laurin H. Martin 
requiring great mechanical skill, and always 
a full artistic sense of the result to be reached. 
The old Danish sconces are of particular 
interest not only on account of their beauty, 
but as examples of a method of execution. 
The designs have been worked out with 
tools and hammers, but over wooden or 
metal forms. In ancient times, many of 
the shields, which are examples of marvelous 
576 
