DAMASCENING or DAMASKEENING, a term some times applied to the production of damask steel, but properly the art of incrusting wire of gold (and sometimes of silver or copper) on the surface of iron, steel or bronze. The surface upon which the pattern is to be traced is finely undercut with a sharp instru ment. The gold thread is forced into the minute furrows of the cut surface by hammering and is securely held. This system of ornamentation is peculiarly Oriental, having been much prac tised by the early goldsmiths of Damascus; it is still eminently characteristic of Persian metal work.