metalwork

Table of Contents

Introduction
General processes and techniques
- Hammering and casting
- Embossing, or repoussé
- Chasing
- Engraving
- Inlaying
- Enamelling
- Gilding
Western metalwork
- Copper
  - Antiquity
    - Mesopotamia
    - Egypt
  - Middle Ages
    - Europe
    - Islām
  - Renaissance to modern
- Bronze and brass
  - Antiquity
    - Mesopotamia
    - Iran
    - Egypt
    - Crete
    - Greece
    - Etruria
    - Rome
    - Teutonic tribes
  - Middle Ages: Byzantine Empire
  - Middle Ages: Islām
  - Europe from the Middle Ages
    - Italy
    - Germany and the Low Countries
    - England
    - France
- Silver and gold
  - Antiquity
    - Pre-Mycenaean
    - Minoan and Mycenaean
    - Iran
    - Greek and Etruscan
    - Roman
    - Early Christian and Byzantine
  - Middle Ages
    - Carolingian and Ottonian
    - Romanesque
    - Gothic
    - Islām
  - Renaissance to modern
    - 16th century
    - Baroque
    - 18th century
    - Colonial America
    - 19th century
    - Modern
- Pewter
  - Antiquity
  - Middle Ages
  - 16th century to modern
- Iron
  - Early history
  - Belgium and Holland
  - England
  - France
  - Germany
  - Italy
  - Spain
  - United States
  - Mid-19th century onward
- Lead
  - Antiquity
  - Middle Ages
  - Renaissance to modern
Non-Western metalwork
- South Asia
  - Iron
  - Gold and silver
- Central and Southeast Asia
- East Asia
  - China
    - Bronze
    - Iron
    - Gold and silver
  - Korea
    - The formative years
    - The Three Kingdoms period (c. 57 bc–ad 668)
    - The Unified, or Great, Silla period (668–935)
    - The Koryŏ period (918–1392)
  - Japan
    - Bronze and other metals
    - Gold and silver
- American Indian peoples
  - Pre-Columbian
  - Southwest Indian
  - Modern
- Africa

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Mycenaean dagger

Gloucester candlestick

Persian vase in the form of a fish

early Christian marriage casket

book cover of the Lindau Gospels

cast bronze baptismal font

For Students

book cover of the Lindau Gospels

metalwork summary

Discover

VAN, TURKEY - OCTOBER 25: A building and car ruined during the earthquake of Van-Ercis on October 25, 2011 in Van, Turkey. It is 604 killed and 4152 injured in Van-Ercis Earthquake.

What Is an Aftershock?

Solar eclipse of the sun.

The Sun Was Eaten: 6 Ways Cultures Have Explained Eclipses

Artist interpretation of a Space meteoroid impact. Meteor impact. Asteroid, End of the world, danger, destruction, dinosaur extinct, Judgement Day, Planet Earth, Doomsday Predictions, comet

10 Failed Doomsday Predictions

Periodical Cicada, Adult, Magicicada spp. Requires 17 years to complete development. Nymph splits its skin, and transforms into an adult. Feeds on sap of tree roots. Northern Illinois Brood. This brood is the largest emergence of cicadas anywhere

Why Do Some Cicadas Appear Only Every 17 Years?

Vietnam War. U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson awards the Distinguished Service Cross to First Lieutenant Marty A. Hammer, during a visit to military personnel, Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam, October 26, 1966. President Johnson

Vietnam War Timeline

Black widow spider

9 of the World’s Deadliest Spiders

A Factory Interior, watercolor, pen and gray ink, graphite, and white goache on wove paper by unknown artist, c. 1871-91; in the Yale Center for British Art. Industrial Revolution England

Inventors and Inventions of the Industrial Revolution

metalwork: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Also Known As	metal processing

Photos and Videos

Mycenaean dagger

Gloucester candlestick

Persian vase in the form of a fish

early Christian marriage casket

book cover of the Lindau Gospels

cast bronze baptismal font

Take a look at researchers studying Mississippians copper work from the Cahokian mounds in southwestern Illinois

Observe ancient techniques still employed by metalworkers in western Africa

See All Videos and Images →

Topics

enamelwork bronze work silverwork copper work ironwork goldwork leadwork chasing tinplate tinware pottery interior design dress furniture calligraphy heraldry jewelry glassware mosaic tapestry

Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Key People

saltcellar of Francis I

Benvenuto Cellini

Italian artist

Eva Zeisel

Hungarian American designer and ceramicist

Fabergé cigarette box

Peter Carl Fabergé

Russian jeweler

Marianne Brandt

German painter, photographer and designer

Nicholas Hilliard: A Young Man Among Roses

Nicholas Hilliard

English painter

Figure 167: Sterling silver knife, fork, and spoon, designed by Georg Jensen, Copenhagen, 1916.

Georg Jensen

Danish silversmith

Nicholas of Verdun: Shrine of the Three Kings

Nicholas Of Verdun

Flemish enamelist

Prouvé, Jean: prefabricated gas station

Jean Prouvé

French engineer

de Lamerie, Paul: loving cup with cover

Paul de Lamerie

English silversmith

González, Julio: Head of Montserrat Screaming

Julio González

Spanish sculptor

Maso Finiguerra

Italian artist

Mantel clock of bronze, chased and gilt by Pierre Gouthière, 1771, after a design by Louis-Simon Boizot; in the Wallace Collection, London.

Pierre Gouthière

French metalworker

Silver coffeepot by Hester Bateman, 1773–74; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Hester Bateman

British silversmith

Paul Storr

British goldsmith

Theophilus

German writer and artist

Urs Graf

Swiss artist

Engraving by Pasquier after a design for terrine from Elements d'orfèvrerie by Pierre Germain

Pierre Germain

French silversmith

Juste-Aurèle Meissonier

French architect and goldsmith

Silver-gilt salver by François-Thomas Germain, 1757; in the Stavros Niarchos Collection

François-Thomas Germain

French silversmith

Master E.S.

German engraver