DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19574#0322
E N G 295
the fame way, clap the print which you would imitate with the
printed fide next to the plate, and, having placed it very exactly,
rub the backfide of the print with a burnifber, or any thing that
is hard, fmooth, and round, which will caufe it to ftick to the
wax upon the plate; then take off the print, beginning at one
corner, gently and with care, left you tear it, which may be
caufed alfo by putting too much wax upon the plate, and it will
leave upon the wax the perfect proportion in every part.
If the print flick too hard to the wax, hold it to the fire, and
it will come off with eafe.
Where take notice, that, if it be an old picture, before you
lay it upon the wax it will be beft to trace it over in every limb
with a black lead pencil.
Engraving on -precious Jiones, confifts in reprefenting figures
or devices, either in relievo or creux, i. e. emboffed or indented
on divers kinds of hard polifhed ftones.
The art of Engraving on precious ftones is one of thofe in
which the ancients excelled ; as it appears by thofe antique agates,
cornelians, and onyxes, which furpafs any thing of that kind the
moderns have produced.
Pyrgoteles, among the Greeks, and Diofcorides, under the
firft emperors of Rome, were the mod eminent engravers we read
of; the former of which was fo efteemed by Alexander, that he
forbad any body elfe to engrave his head ; and the head of Au-
guftus, engraven by the latter, was fo beautiful, that the fucceed-
ing emperors chofe it for their feal.
All the polite arts having been buried under the ruins of the
Roman empire, the art of Engraving on ftones met the fame
fate, and was not retrieved in Italy, till the beginning of the
fifteenth century ; when one John of Florence, and after him
Dominic of Milan, performed works of this kind no way to be
defpifed.
After their time, fuch fculptures became more common in Eu-
rope, and particularly in Germany, from whence a great many
were carried into other countries ; but thefe fell far fhort of the
beauty of thofe of the ancients, efpecially fuch as were on pre-
cious ftones; for, as to thofe on cryftal, the Germans fucceed-
ed well enough ; as alfo did the French after them.
In this branch of Engraving, the things made ufe of are the
diamond or emery.
The diamond, which is the harden: and moft perfect of all
precious ftones, is only cut by itfelf, or with its own matter.
That which is flrft to be done, is to cement two rough dia-
monds to the ends of two fticks, big enough to hold them fteady
in the hands ; and to rub or grind them againft each other, till
they be brousht to the form defired.
U 4 The
the fame way, clap the print which you would imitate with the
printed fide next to the plate, and, having placed it very exactly,
rub the backfide of the print with a burnifber, or any thing that
is hard, fmooth, and round, which will caufe it to ftick to the
wax upon the plate; then take off the print, beginning at one
corner, gently and with care, left you tear it, which may be
caufed alfo by putting too much wax upon the plate, and it will
leave upon the wax the perfect proportion in every part.
If the print flick too hard to the wax, hold it to the fire, and
it will come off with eafe.
Where take notice, that, if it be an old picture, before you
lay it upon the wax it will be beft to trace it over in every limb
with a black lead pencil.
Engraving on -precious Jiones, confifts in reprefenting figures
or devices, either in relievo or creux, i. e. emboffed or indented
on divers kinds of hard polifhed ftones.
The art of Engraving on precious ftones is one of thofe in
which the ancients excelled ; as it appears by thofe antique agates,
cornelians, and onyxes, which furpafs any thing of that kind the
moderns have produced.
Pyrgoteles, among the Greeks, and Diofcorides, under the
firft emperors of Rome, were the mod eminent engravers we read
of; the former of which was fo efteemed by Alexander, that he
forbad any body elfe to engrave his head ; and the head of Au-
guftus, engraven by the latter, was fo beautiful, that the fucceed-
ing emperors chofe it for their feal.
All the polite arts having been buried under the ruins of the
Roman empire, the art of Engraving on ftones met the fame
fate, and was not retrieved in Italy, till the beginning of the
fifteenth century ; when one John of Florence, and after him
Dominic of Milan, performed works of this kind no way to be
defpifed.
After their time, fuch fculptures became more common in Eu-
rope, and particularly in Germany, from whence a great many
were carried into other countries ; but thefe fell far fhort of the
beauty of thofe of the ancients, efpecially fuch as were on pre-
cious ftones; for, as to thofe on cryftal, the Germans fucceed-
ed well enough ; as alfo did the French after them.
In this branch of Engraving, the things made ufe of are the
diamond or emery.
The diamond, which is the harden: and moft perfect of all
precious ftones, is only cut by itfelf, or with its own matter.
That which is flrft to be done, is to cement two rough dia-
monds to the ends of two fticks, big enough to hold them fteady
in the hands ; and to rub or grind them againft each other, till
they be brousht to the form defired.
U 4 The