Искусства и ремесла Средневековья

Other Metals

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channels fог the design were hollowed out, in the iron or bronze, and then а ,vire of brass, silver, or gold, was laid in the gгoove, and beaten into place, being after­ wards polishcd uвtil the sшface \vas uniform all over. One gгeat feature of the art ,vas to sink the incision а little bгoader at the base than at the top, and tЬen to force the softer шetal in, so that, Ьу this uпdercutting, it was held firmly in place. Cellini tells of his first view of damascened stcel Ьlades. " I chanced," l1e says, " to become posscssed of certain little Turkish (laggers, thc hancllc of which together ,vith the guard and Ыаdе ,vcre ornaшented ,vith bcaнtiful Oriental leaves, engraYed witl1 а chisel, and iвlaid with gold. This kind of work differed mate11ally from any " r hich I had as yet prac­ tisecl or attempted, nevertheless I was seized with а g1·eat desire to try my hand at it, and I succeeded so admiraЬly that I produced al'ticles infinitely finer and шаге solid than those of the Tшks." Benvenuto had such а humЫe opinion of l1is own powers ! But when one considers thc paiпs and lаЬош expended upon the arts of daшasceniпg ancl нiello, one гegrets that tЬе woгkers had not been inspircd to attempt dentistry, апd save so mнch unnecessary individual suffering! On the Sword of Boabdil are many inscriptions, among theш, " God is clemeнt and meгcifнl," and " God is gifted with the hest memo1·y." No two sentimcnts could Ье better calculated to keep а conqueror f1·ош uncluc excesses. Me1·cia ,vas а l1eadquarters for steel and other metals