ENGRAVING is the art of executing by incision on plates of metal, blocks of wood, &e. the representation of visi ble objects, with a view to the working off impressions from them. These impressions are called Although the art of engraving, considered in its ap plication to the taking oil' impressions, be entirely a modern invention, the art itself was practised by the ancients from the earliest times, in various ways, such as in the decorations of articles of household furniture, and in the ornaments of dress, such as rings, clasps, &c. and in the embellishing of shields, helmets, swords, and other warlike instruments, as well as in the cutting of signets or seals. In these respects, however, it must be considered as a modification of sculpture.
it is probable that the first essays of engraving were only rude delineations expressed by simple outlines, such as are described by Herodotus as traced upon the shields of the Clarions.
The dignity and importance of this art are univer sally acknowledged, whether considering the great ad vantages which society derives from its productions, or the high qualifications requisite for its professors. By means of it, the spirit of those splendid and costly pro ductions of the art of painting, whether the representa tion of some great historical fact, or the embodying and giving a 'local habitation' to the sublime conceptions of the poet, which, without its assistance, would be for ever confined to the palaces of the great, is transferred upon paper in a cheap and portable shape, and multipli ed and disseminated over distant countries to any extent. By it, portraits of the patriot, hero, and statesman, the philosopher and the poet, and others who have rendered themselves illustrious or useful to society, are also hand ed down to a grateful posterity ; and in its humbler, though not less useful department, it is of great assis tance to the philosopher and man of science, in the il lustrations it affords to his written descriptions.
The book of Genesis contains the earliest record ex tant of the exercise of the art. In it, Bezaleel and Aholiab are mentioned as being professedly engravers, and are designated as "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 sil ver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, and to set them." These and other arts employed by the Israelites in the decorations of the tabernacle, which they must have learnt of the Egyptians, shei'v a considerable ad vancement in the luxuries of life, and su lidently w tr rant the conclusion, that the art was, eve,' at that time, i not in its infancy. Mention is also often made in the sacred writings, at a time much anterior to this, of the existence of signets, rings, and bracelets, which it is reasonable to suppose, however rudely executed, were engraved or carved.
But as the words that are used in the various ancient languages are not sufficiently definite, being equally applicable to carving, engraving, or chasing, there can be but little deduced with certainty from them. A short view, therefore, of the relics of antiquity now extant, will convey a more precise idea of ancient engraving.
The hieroglyphic figures of the Egyptians are per haps the most ancient remains of engraving on metal • they have been frequently met with, chiefly in the cof fins of mummies, where they had been deposited as a sort of talismans. There are in the British Museum se veral fine specimens of these figures. One of these,
which bears every mark of high antiquity, has been minutely described by Mr Strutt. (See Dictionary of Engravers.) " It represents Isis, and is carved in al to-relieve; the goddess appears standing on two croco diles, holding in each hand two serpents, a creature like a scorpion, and a four-footed animal ; from the tails of the crocodiles arise two ornaments ; upon the top of one is a bird, but the representation on the top of the other is so much obliterated by time, that it cannot be ascertained. The flat part of the relief, together with the bottom edges and back part of it, are ornamented with figures and symbolical representations, executed entirely with the graver, without any other assistance; the backs of the crocodiles, and the heads of the four footed animals, are also finished with the same instru ment, in a very careful manner. It is four inches high, and three inches four-tenths at the bottom, from which it gradually decreases to the breadth of three inches at the top." Among the Etruscan antiquities at the British Mu seum, collected by Sir William Hamilton, are two spe cimens of the art of engraving at a very remote period; a representation of which forms the frontispiece to one of the volumes of Strutt's Dictionary. " One of them," as he describes it, " is a sheath to a parazonium or dag ger. It is more than three inches and three-quarters wide at the top, and decreases gradually to an inch and a quarter at the bottom ; its present length is eight in ches and a half: the story engraved upon it appears to be taken from Homer. The trophy at the bottom is symbolical of war ; above the trophy, two warriors are delineated, with a woman, who seems to accompany them with great reluctance, which I conceive may re present Paris and his accomplice conducting Helen to the ship. in order to make her escape 1‘) Troy; and at the top, the messenger, the servant of Menelaus, is re lating to his lord the ungrateful behaviour of his Trojan guest. The figures are exceedingly rude, and seem -to indicate the very infancy of the art of engraving, for they are executed with the graver only, upon a flat sur face, and need only to be filled with ink, and run through the press, (provided the plate could endure the opera tion), to produce a fair and perfect impression." He likewise gives the representation of " another va luable specimen of ancient engraving, greatly superior in workmanship to the former. It is a patera, or in strument used by the priests in their sacrifices ; and it is supposed, with great reason, to have belonged to an altar dedicated to Hercules, who is represented com bating, as it appears to me, Hippolite, the Queen of the Amazons, whose girdle he was enjoined by Ery s theus to unclose and take from her." But M. D'Ankerville, who has drawn up a descrip tive catalogue of the antiquities collected by Sir Wil liam Hamilton, conceives it to represent Minerva lean ing upon the head of that hero, and pressing him for ward in the arduous path of glory ; his bow and quiver are behind him. It is precisely seven inches in diann ter, and about half an inch thick, apparently made of brass, but the ornaments and border are inlaid with sil ver. The figures and ornaments are carved in bas-relief, but the hair of the woman, and the smaller folds and or naments of the drapery, are executed solely with the graver. The letters which compose the inscription must be read from right to left,—another strong proof of its great antiquity.