Gem engraving

“ Methods of Engraving (see also under Lapidary) .—In gem-engraving the principal modern implement is a wheel or minute copper disk, driven in the manner of a lathe, and moistened with olive oil mixed with emery or diamond dust. There is no clear proof of the use among the ancients of a wheel mounted lathewise, but we have abundant indications of drilling with a revolving tool, which might be either a tubular drill making a ring-like depression, a pointed tool making a cup-like sinking, or a small wheel with a cutting edge, making a boat-shaped depression. ”

“ Since the heraldic style has followed the classic, interest in the art of intaglio-engraving has waned tremendously and can be brought back only by the{297} revival of that classic spirit which, after all, underlies everything that is best the world over, in art or in literature.
The substances employed by the gem-engravers are amethyst, hyacinth, agate, carnelian, chalcedony, crystal, and other precious gems. In our own day almost every stone is employed. The lapidary must not be confused with the gem-engraver. ”

“ It must suffice to say that Furtwängler arrives at the result that we have in all genuine signatures of at least fifty ancient gem-engravers.
Gem-Engraving in the Later Empire.—In the following centuries the art of intaglio engraving, which was still at a high degree of perfection in the first century of the Roman empire, became more mechanical. The designs have a very characteristic appearance, due to the method of production with rough and hasty strokes of the wheel only. ”

“ As the art of gem engraving was not practised in the Middle Ages, some medieval writers suppose that the engraved talismanic gems current in their time were not works of art, but of nature, and Konrad von Megenberg accepting this view, gave it as his opinion that “God granted these stones their beauty and virtue for the help and comfort of the human race,” adding that when he hoped to receive help from them he in no wise denied the grace of God.203
Damigeron writes of the sard that, if worn by a woman, it is a good and fortunate stone. ”

“ Throughout all this time the glyptic art flourished under the protection of kings and emperors, who for the general encouragement of the civilizing arts, served their own interests and gratified their tastes for luxury and the beautiful by their constant patronage of gem-engraving. ”

“ A stone engraved in one manner you should suspend about the neck, as it enables you to find treasures, the impression in wax of another stone will cause men to speak well of you." The engraving of a dove with a branch of olive in its mouth should be mounted in a silver ring, and another gem should be placed in a ring of lead. ”

“ The “rondelle” form consists of flat, circular gems with smooth sides pierced, like shallow beads, with facetted edges, and is sometimes used between pearls, or gem beads, and in the coloured gems, such as rubies, sapphires, emeralds, &c. The mitred gems fitted to a gauge are much used and are closely set together, forming a continuous line of colour.
Modern gem cutting and engraving are done by means of the lathe, which can be made to revolve with extreme rapidity, carrying a point or small disk of soft iron, with diamond-dust and oil. ”

“ In support of the opinion which we before indirectly expressed, that the practice of taking impressions from engraved plates of metal might well be a kind of fortuitous result of a mere professional tradition incidental to the goldsmith’s art, we may remark that most of the engravings which have{325} been handed down to us as belonging to the era fixed upon for the invention of engraving, are the work of Italian goldsmith-engravers. ”

“ They best understood the value of art, and were best skilled in artistic processes; they were the only persons [6] who had by them all the means for taking an impression—the engraved metal plate, iron tools, burnishers for rubbing off a proof, blackened oil, and paper which they used for tracing their designs; they would, too, have been aided in their art, merely as goldsmiths, could they have tested their engraving from time to time by taking an impression from it in its various stages. ”

“ The Egyptians, Greeks, and Etruscans have left us specimens of goldsmith's work and fragments of all kinds, which, at any rate, attest the practice of engraving in their countries. Finally, every one is aware that metal seals and dies of engraved stone were in common use amongst the Romans.
Engraving, therefore, in the strict sense of the2 word, is no invention due to modern civilisation. ”

“ The ancients were not acquainted with any method of cutting the diamond, although they applied its powder to polishing, cutting, and engraving other stones. Gems of this kind, either rough, or polished by nature, were set as ornaments, and were valued according to the beauty and perfection of their crystallization and transparency. The value of any precious stone, or jewel, depends much upon the skill of the lapidary. ”

“ It is more probable that the art began in the workshops of the goldsmiths, who were so skilled in engraving upon metal that impressions of much artistic value have been taken from work executed by them in the twelfth century, showing that they really were engravers obliged to remain goldsmiths, because the art of printing from metal plates was unknown. [1] By their knowledge of design and their artistic execution, at least, if not by their mechanical inventiveness, the goldsmiths were the lineal ancestors of the great engravers of the Renaissance. ”

“ When the gloss has been taken from silk, it may be restored by applying the filtered mucilage of gum tragacanth; stretching it upon a frame to dry. Ribbons are glossed with isinglass. Lemon juice is used to brighten scarlet spots, after they have been cleaned.
SEAL ENGRAVING. The art of engraving gems is one of extreme nicety. The stone having received its desired form from the lapidary, the engraver fixes it by cement to the end of a wooden handle, and then draws the outline of his subject, with a brass needle or a diamond, upon its smooth surface. ”

“ Finger rings have survived in greater numbers than other Byzantine ornaments. The majority are figured with the beautiful symbolism of the Christian belief. Some are set with engraved gems, but on most the design is produced by the more simple process of engraving the metal of which the ring is composed. In early Christian times rings were often offered as presents, and were engraved with expressions of good-will towards the recipient, whose name is sometimes mentioned. The British Museum contains a somewhat extensive collection of these rare objects in gold. ”

“ How is it that these vignettes from Stothard and Turner, [AA] like the woodcuts from Tenniel, scarcely make the name of the engraver known; and that they never are found side by side with this older and apparently ruder art, in the cabinets of men of real judgment? The reason is precisely the same as in the case of the Tenniel woodcut. This modern line engraving is alloyed gold. Rich in capacity, astonishing in attainment, it nevertheless admits willful fault, and misses what it ought first to have attained. ”

“ The imitative instinct inherent in mankind reasserted itself with an irresistible intensity, and new forms of pictorial expression were eagerly sought after. The art of engraving provided a medium for the extension of the artist's fame and the popularising of his creations. It rapidly gained favour, and its ultimate development and expansion fully justified the interest it aroused.
Early Engravers.—Baccio Baldine, another Florentine goldsmith, quickly realised the value of Finiguerra's discovery, and endeavoured to produce engraved plates for printing purposes. ”

“ Another index of antiquity is found in the different methods of working adopted in classical and Renaissance times. The tools employed by the Renaissance engraver were the drill and the wheel, while the ancient artist also employed the diamond point.
The gem-engraver’s art again during the 18th century revived under an even greater amount of encouragement from men of wealth and rank. In this last period the names of engravers who succeeded best in imitating classical designs were Natter, Pichler (fig. 14) , and the Englishmen Marchant (fig. 15) and Burch. ”

“ Stone engraving is the art of countries possessing marble and gems; wood engraving, of countries overgrown with forest; metal engraving, of countries possessing treasures of silver and gold. And the style of a stone engraver is formed on pillars and pyramids; the style of a wood engraver under the eaves of larch cottages; the style of a metal engraver in the treasuries of kings. Do you suppose I could rightly explain to you the value of a single touch on brass by Finiguerra, or on box by Bewick, [Pg 35] unless I had grasp of the great laws of climate and country ”

“ Armorers and goldsmiths practiced this art of engraving in mediæval and Renaissance times. For our present purposes the absorbing question is this: How did the idea of printing from this decorated metal first suggest itself? We may get a clue by watching the engraver at work. With the graver he cuts a maze of lines into the metal; it is almost impossible to see the design owing to the glitter of each new-cut furrow. This troubles the engraver himself, and in36 order to see just what he has done, he smears the plate over with a mixture of lamp-black and oil, rubbing it well into the furrows. ”

“ Niello is more than simply a drawing on metal. That would come under the head of engraving. A graver is used to cut out the design on the surface of the silver, which is simply a polished plane. When the drawing has been thus incised, a black enamel, made of lead, lamp black, and other substances, is filled into the interstices, and rubbed in; when quite dry and hard, this is polished. The result is a black enamel which is then fused into the silver, so that the whole is one surface, and the decoration becomes part of the original plate. ”

“ But the fact that this and the following lecture are on the subject of design in engraving, implies of course that in the work we have to examine, it was often the engraver himself who designed, and as often the artist who engraved.
And you will observe that the only engravings which bear imperishable value are, indeed, in this kind. It is true that, in wood-cutting, both Dürer and Holbein, as in our own days Leech and Tenniel, have workmen under them who can do all they want. But in metal cutting it is not so. ”

“ Except during the height of the First Empire the fashion for engraved gems never took a very thorough hold. Ladies have seldom a taste for archæology. If a few, in accordance with the current idea, affected a sober and refined style of ornament, the majority soon wearied of the burden of cameos in the necklace and bracelet, and preferred sparkling stones to the delicate cutting of the gem. The general and instinctive preference for brilliant jewels did more than anything to kill the attempted employment of antique forms and designs. ”

“ In engraving a surface for subsequent treatment with another metal or with enamel the process itself will dictate the use of a strong and suitable method of cutting. When, however, the engraving is to stand on its own qualities it is important to bear in mind the difference between engraving that is employed as decoration and that intended for printing. ”

“ A melting-pot is always over the fire, to which all silver ware is consigned the instant it is received. The marks on linen, towels, and handkerchiefs, are removed, sometimes by chemicals, sometimes by fine scissors made expressly for the purpose. Jewelry is at once removed from its settings, and the gold is either melted or the engraving is burnished out, so as in either case to make identification impossible. ”

“ The modern revival of wood-engraving, which came just after the war, is quite different in style from any that preceded it. The artist and engraver are now one, as they should be where original work is to be done, and every exponent of the craft expresses his or her own individuality. ”

“ With the Renaissance, the art of gem carving revived, and the engravers from that time and onward have produced results that equal the best Greek and Roman work; copies of ancient gem carvings made by some of the 18th-century masters are only distinguishable from true antiques by experts of great proficiency. It is in fact extremely difficult to judge positively as to the age of engraved gems. ”

“ In the breadth of his interests, in the variety of his subjects, and in his sympathy with the special movements of his age, he was as an engraver more characteristic of the civilization in which he lived than any other of the Little Masters who gave their attention to wood-engraving. ”

“ The oldest bucchero vases go back to the tombs a fossa of the end of the seventh century. They are small and hand-made, ornamented, if at all, with geometric patterns, incised. The engraving was done by a sort of toothed wheel or a sharp tool; more rarely, hollowed out in grooves. Obviously the process is an imitation of metal engraving. Oriental influence soon appears, first of all in the chalice-shaped cups found at Cervetri, the surface of which is covered with figures of lions, deer, etc., in Oriental style. Both form and decoration are derived from metallic prototypes. ”

“ Permanent exceedingly,—even in flesh, or on mahogany tables, often more permanent than we desire. But when studiously and honorably made, divinely permanent, or delightfully—as on the venerable desks of our public schools, most of them, now, specimens of wood engraving dear to the heart of England. [Pg 18]
34. Engraving, then, is, in brief terms, the Art of Scratch. It is essentially the cutting into a solid substance for the sake of making your ideas as permanent as possible, graven with an iron pen in the Rock forever. ”