DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1397#0065
PLATE 14.
DAMASCENED WORK,
BY II, DUFRESNE, PARIS.
"V/T HENRI DITFRESISTE is tlie inventor of a style of damascening by a process which
* is stated in the Jury Report (Class 30) to be much cheaper than that in general
use; and which fixes the gold more securely than by any of the means employed up to the
present time. " The works which he has undertaken for the manufactory at Sevres, the arms
and various objects which he has exhibited, give a high idea of the excellence of his process,
and the numerous applications it is capable of receiving." With this special approbation he
was awarded a prize medal.
The principal shield was about twenty inches in diameter, and on the border was inscribed,
"Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomini sancto tuo da gioriam; sis prsesul et custodia."
The tazza was studded with antique coins, having a recumbent lion at top, supporting an
enamelled coat of arms. Besides the pieces which we have illustrated, M. Dufresne exhibited
some magnificently damascened bowls and stands of excellent design, swords, tazze, &c. His
process also was used in combination with some splendid pieces enamelled in the late Limoges
style, which were executed also at Sevres, surpassing, we think, anything produced in former
ages, especially the great salver or bowl painted by G-obert after Raffaelle, belonging to the
Empress, a work of extraordinary artistic value.
Italy may be said to have monopolized the practice of the damascening art during the
16th century; and although it is not probable but that it was practised by the great masters
in metal-work of Spain, Germany, and France, we have no means of ascertaining how far that
was the case. Only one name in connection with France can be found,—that of Cursinet, a
sword-cutler, in the reign of Henry IV., who, according to Labarte, gained a great reputation
as much by the purity of his designs as by his exquisite manner of applying the gold, and
of chasing on it in relief. This beautiful addition to ornamental metal-work has been revived
of late years in Paris and Madrid : we are also happy to see that our own goldsmiths, especially
Messrs. Hunt & Roskell, are introducing it freely into their works, although its application
is more suitable to iron and steel.
Mr. Burgess gives the following account of the processes in the " Journal of Design and
Manufactures," vol. iii.:—" Damascening on iron was made by roughing the Avhole surface of
the metal with a fine graver or file. The ornaments, for the most part consisting of thin threads
of gold, were then fixed by means of pressure; the whole was afterwards burnished, which
restored the ground, where not covered by the gold, to nearly its original polish. When the
pattern had many solid parts and few thin lines, only the surfaces covered by those parts were
roughened, and the ornaments applied as before: the labour of burnishing was thus saved. Very
often in this case the gold ornaments were in relief, and would of course require chasing after
the pressure necessary to make them adhere. There was yet another way which was occasionally
used. It consisted in pricking the outline only of the ornaments in such a manner as to make
little raised teeth, to which the gold was then fixed by pressure. In the Arabian mediasval
works, the surface of the figure was cut away slightly in the middle, but much more so towards
the edges, where it left a rabbet or undercutting. A thin piece of gold or silver of the required
shape was then applied, its edges forced into the above-mentioned under-cutting, and by this
means effectually secured. By another method, less general, however, the ground having been
sunk by means of chiselling and engraving, the ornaments which were left in relief were pricked
all over with a sharp-pointed instrument, and then the thin pieces of metal were fixed thereon
by pressure."
Further notices of Indian damascened work will be found accompanying Plate 287, vol. III.
of this work.
DAMASCENED WORK,
BY II, DUFRESNE, PARIS.
"V/T HENRI DITFRESISTE is tlie inventor of a style of damascening by a process which
* is stated in the Jury Report (Class 30) to be much cheaper than that in general
use; and which fixes the gold more securely than by any of the means employed up to the
present time. " The works which he has undertaken for the manufactory at Sevres, the arms
and various objects which he has exhibited, give a high idea of the excellence of his process,
and the numerous applications it is capable of receiving." With this special approbation he
was awarded a prize medal.
The principal shield was about twenty inches in diameter, and on the border was inscribed,
"Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomini sancto tuo da gioriam; sis prsesul et custodia."
The tazza was studded with antique coins, having a recumbent lion at top, supporting an
enamelled coat of arms. Besides the pieces which we have illustrated, M. Dufresne exhibited
some magnificently damascened bowls and stands of excellent design, swords, tazze, &c. His
process also was used in combination with some splendid pieces enamelled in the late Limoges
style, which were executed also at Sevres, surpassing, we think, anything produced in former
ages, especially the great salver or bowl painted by G-obert after Raffaelle, belonging to the
Empress, a work of extraordinary artistic value.
Italy may be said to have monopolized the practice of the damascening art during the
16th century; and although it is not probable but that it was practised by the great masters
in metal-work of Spain, Germany, and France, we have no means of ascertaining how far that
was the case. Only one name in connection with France can be found,—that of Cursinet, a
sword-cutler, in the reign of Henry IV., who, according to Labarte, gained a great reputation
as much by the purity of his designs as by his exquisite manner of applying the gold, and
of chasing on it in relief. This beautiful addition to ornamental metal-work has been revived
of late years in Paris and Madrid : we are also happy to see that our own goldsmiths, especially
Messrs. Hunt & Roskell, are introducing it freely into their works, although its application
is more suitable to iron and steel.
Mr. Burgess gives the following account of the processes in the " Journal of Design and
Manufactures," vol. iii.:—" Damascening on iron was made by roughing the Avhole surface of
the metal with a fine graver or file. The ornaments, for the most part consisting of thin threads
of gold, were then fixed by means of pressure; the whole was afterwards burnished, which
restored the ground, where not covered by the gold, to nearly its original polish. When the
pattern had many solid parts and few thin lines, only the surfaces covered by those parts were
roughened, and the ornaments applied as before: the labour of burnishing was thus saved. Very
often in this case the gold ornaments were in relief, and would of course require chasing after
the pressure necessary to make them adhere. There was yet another way which was occasionally
used. It consisted in pricking the outline only of the ornaments in such a manner as to make
little raised teeth, to which the gold was then fixed by pressure. In the Arabian mediasval
works, the surface of the figure was cut away slightly in the middle, but much more so towards
the edges, where it left a rabbet or undercutting. A thin piece of gold or silver of the required
shape was then applied, its edges forced into the above-mentioned under-cutting, and by this
means effectually secured. By another method, less general, however, the ground having been
sunk by means of chiselling and engraving, the ornaments which were left in relief were pricked
all over with a sharp-pointed instrument, and then the thin pieces of metal were fixed thereon
by pressure."
Further notices of Indian damascened work will be found accompanying Plate 287, vol. III.
of this work.