ENGRAVING. The art and the process of making incisions in a hard surface. removing a part of the material. The term is limited in its use to suet ineising when done with deliberate purpose for decorative effect or for a record of some sort. Engraving may be divided into that which is done fur its own sake, to show in con trast with the smooth surface around, and that which is done for the.sake of the prints which may be taken from it. A surface which has been engraved may be covered with ink or wet color, and paper or the like pressed upon it will take the impression of the parts remaining un touched, while the hollowed out (engraved) parts will not print off. Again, the ink or color may be forced into the hollowed parts, while the smooth part is wiped clean, and in this case the paper, usually wet, will draw from the engraved lines and spaces the ink which they have contained, while the rest of the paper is left white. The common practice in the United States of using the word 'engraving' for a print from an engraved plate is erroneous and should be avoided.
There is still to be mentioned that engraving which is done with the purpose of stamping a soft substance, thereby leaving a relief impres sion. It is true that in printing on paper from an engraving the broad and black lines are in slight relief ; hut this is not particularly desired; it is merely the result of forcing the wet paper into the incisions so as to draw out the ink. In seal-engraving, however, the resulting stamp in which the letters and other characters will be in relief is the object of the work done upon the hard surface7 The letters, for instance, are re versed upon the surface of the seal, but are rightly placed and are legible in the impression on wax or other yielding material. It appears, then, that when hard stones are engraved in in taglio, the first object may be thought to be that the stone may be used as a seat to produce an impression; but the beauty of the engraved piece itself is such that thousands of intaglios have been cut which are not likely to be used as seals. See GEMS.
Engraving of the kind first altve named, name ly, that of simple intention, done for the effect produced on the surface engraved, is seen in its simplest form where primeval people have cut characters in the surface of rocks and the like.
The Greek and Roman inscriptions on stela., ped estals, and the like, sometimes extending to great length and containing elaborate public documents, though not generally classed under this name, 'Ire engravings of this kind. Not merely the pos sibility of being read was under consideration when these stones were cut, but also the decora tive effect which. though simple—for the lines and shapes of letters are very few and without elab oration—is still capable of a very refined applica tion of artistic feeling. The incised leirends on tombstones in European lands and such as till our own cemeteries are pieces of engraving of the same character; and those who have, examined the headstones of a date previous to the nineteenth century will have observed that considerable decoration in the way of emblems of mortality and simple scrolls and 'flourishes' are cut in the slate or marble, in addition to I he lettering. In all this work, whether in the letters theinse I yes or in the decorative scrolls, the charm of the design is to be found not merely in the curva ture and proportionate size of the parts, but also in the constantly varying width of the lines and, what results from this, the varying slope of the sides of the incision. An incision may be of course flat-bottomed and straight-sided, but it is much more commonly cut with two sloping sides which meet at the bottom like the letter V. Now, as the width of the sinking becomes greater it is very natural, indeed almost inevitable, to decrease the slope. This very difference in the sloping of the sides, added to the difference of their position with regard to a vertical line, or to the horizon, gives a play of light and shade upon these small surfaces which the eye hardly per ceives unless it, is especially trained for the ob servation of such technicalities, hut of which the mind takes cognizance, and finds a variety and play in the design as the direct result of these irregularities.