It requires no lengthened research to trace the origin of the special art of decorating metals; in the Middle Ages, and even down to the time of the Renaissance, every piece of Oriental work was described as the work of Damascus. There is no question, indeed, but that it was in the east, and especially in the manufacture of arms, that damascening was first employed.

But it was not merely a modern art in the west; the Greeks and Romans were acquainted with it, and attributed its invention to Glaucus of Chios. Our museums contain numerous specimens of bronze enriched by fillets or incrustations of gold and silver, and even helmets covered with leaves of gold. The famous Isiac table found in a locksmith's shop after the sack of Rome, in 1527, was richly damascened; a proof that the Egyptians excelled in the art. It is the same process which we shall again find in use among the moderns. To obtain the desired result, the whole surface of the metal intended to be damascened is first scratched by a file, in shape like the rowel of a spur, and a leaf of precious metal is applied over the incised part, made to adhere by gentle blows of the hammer, so as to attach it to all the inequalities made by the file; it is then polished, or finished by engraving or other means, to perfect the ornamentation.

For incrustations, the intended design is engraved on the mass, care being taken to hollow out the cuttings wider at the bottom than upon the surface, and having small imperceptible projecting points, to grip the gold or silver which is applied by strokes of a hammer; the threads, thus fixed in their places, are worked so as to give them the desired form, here slender and delicate stalks, there wider leaves produced by the union of several contiguous filaments flattened out, some in relief, and others level with the groundwork. The combination of these two kinds of work is very frequent, and produces marvellous effects, which are still further heightened by the engraving process applied to surfaces of any considerable extent.

The introduction of damascening into Italy is easily explained by the constant intercourse between the artists of that country and the peoples of the east. In a remarkable paper published in the "Gazette des beaux-Arts," M. Henri Lavoix observes that, on the one hand, the Italian Republics had permanent establishments in Mahommedan countries beyond the sea, and, on the other, Arabian artists used to sojourn in many of the cities of the Peninsula, as for example, Pisa, Florence, Genoa, Venice, etc, and introduced their tastes and modes of working.

Tea-kettle of brass repousse and engraved. Persian work. (Collection of M. de Beaueorps.).

Damascening, which, at first, was used only for the embellishment of weapons and armour, had in the sixteenth century made such progress that Benvenuto Cellini, in attempting this style, said, "I succeeded so well as to execute several pieces of work even more beautiful and solid than those of the Turks. For this there were several reasons; one, that I hollowed my steel more deeply, another, that the foliage of the Turks consists only of the 'colocasia,' and small flowers of the 'corona solis,' which, though not wanting in elegance, are yet less pleasing than our own.

"In Italy we imitate various descriptions of foliage.

"The Lombards make some very beautiful work representing leaves of the ivy and adder's tongue, gracefully entwined, which produces the happiest effect. The Tuscans and the Romans have been still better inspired in selecting for reproduction the leaves of the acanthus, with its festoons and flowers twined into a thousand forms, and gracefully interspersed with birds and beasts, It is here that we sec wherein good taste consists. They have also had recourse to wild flowers and plants, as for instance, that called lion's snout (mufle de lion). Our powerful artists accompany their flower-work by a lavish use of those fanciful ornaments which the ignorant call grotesque".

These hints are of inestimable value in enabling us to discriminate between the different Italian schools. If Benvenuto Cellini does not mention that of Venice, it is because its style was absolutely identical with that of the Arabs. We find the same intricate arabesques, the same infinity of interlacing and scroll-work, which are repeated again and again without confusion, and produce innumerable variations of the same design. This is the reason why we might regard as Oriental a superb dish in brass, engraved and damascened in silver, in the Dutuit collection, were it not that we can read underneath on a banderole: Nicolo Rugina greco de Corfu fece, 1550.

Is it to the same Nicolo Rugina that we should ascribe another dish, whereon, among arabesque ornamentations, figure subject medallions, some antiques, others of oriental designs, and others in the costumes of the end of the sixteenth century? Upon the border is a view of a city with this legend, "La cita de Corfu," and in the centre is an Italian escutcheon.

We frequently meet with these dishes with ewers, and braseros, some with moveable side handles supported by lions' heads, others like kettles with a single handle also movable; all elegant in shape, and with mouldings embellished with laurel boughs, arabesque grounds, acanthus leaves, and medallions with figures, and stamped with the Italian Arms of Zon of Venice, Priuli Minio, Bembo, etc. We have here a proof of the close connection between the Arabian and Italian artists, as well in Italy as in the settlements where the Italians had established their commerce, or at least their pleasure-houses: "Our villas," says a Venetian chronicle, "our flower-gardens, you may see them in Roumania, in Greece, at Trebizond; in Syria, in Armenia, in Egypt; there we find at the same time our pleasure and our profit; 'tis there our children and our children's children dwell from generation to generation." In fact, the Ca-Mosto family had lived in Syria; Sebastian Ziani, in Armenia; the Bondumieri had established themselves at St. Jean d'Acre; the Zuliani, the Buoni, the-Soranzi, had grown rich at Tangiers, at Tunis, and along the coast of Barbary. Such is the picture sketched by M. Lavoix, which sufficiently explains the singular medley of style and art to be seen in the bronzes and damascened brasses of the Italian Peninsula.

Pax of iron repousse and damascened with (fold and silver. Italian work, early part of the Sixteenth Century.

(Collection of M. Ed. Bonnaffe).

Let us now return to the azzimina properly so-called, that is to say the incrusting of steel with gold and silver. Although it was in the manufacture of arms that this branch of art was chiefly employed, we shall pause a moment at such curious objects as the "cassinette," or casket, described by M. Lavoix, which appears to mark, in Italy, the starting-point of azzimina for objects of art. This piece, inscribed simply with the maker's name, has a date fixed by the geographical maps which adorn its cover, and belongs to the first third of the sixteenth century. The style of the decoration is that known as arabesque, although it shows an adaptation of Oriental ornamentation to Italian tastes. It possesses a delicacy and finish which exclude all idea of an art yet in its infancy. Paolo must have laboured long before designing such a casket, and was exercising a branch of industry which had already attained to full perfection.

Perhaps before his day, that is to say about 1520, the Cavaliere Serafino of Brescia had acquired a reputation as a damascener. It is needless, to-day, to speak of the talent of Giorgio Ghisi, of Mantua, a magnificent work by whom all the world had the opportunity of admiring at the Exhibition of San Donato: this piece, bearing the date 1554, somewhat prolongs the period of this artist's work, fixed by M. Lacroix, following G. B. Bertano, or Britano, as between 1534 and 1549.

As for Milan, the azziminists are numerous: we have Giovanni Pietro Figino; Bartholomeo Piatti; Francesco Pillizzone, called le Basso; Martino Ghinello; Carlo Sovico, goldsmith; Ferrante Bellino, and Pompeo Turcone, artisans in iron; Giovanni Ambrogio, turner; Filippo Negroli; Antonio Biancardi; Bernardo Civo; Luccio Piccinino, who made the famous suit of armour of Alexander Farnese; Romero, who worked for Alfonso d' Este. We must also mention Paolo Rizzo, of Venice, to whom had been, at first, ascribed the casket of the earlier Paolo.

We have already had occasion to comment on the style of the works of these different artists when treating of armour, and we shall now see whether France cannot claim her share in this department of art, long before the appearance of Cursinet, the armourer of Henry .IV.

It is clear that, from the commencement of the sixteenth century, damascening was in use in France, as well as in Italy, in the ornamentation of ordinary portable utensils, such as the mountings of purses (escarcelles), knives and forks, the cases of huntsmen's instruments (trousses de veneurs), etc.

We might even adduce portions of armour in the best style, evidently of French workmanship; such as a superb shield with the armorial bearings of Albon, which was shown at the exhibition for the benefit of the people of Alsace-Lorraine.

If it has been proved conclusively that damascening was employed in France in the sixteenth century, it has been ever since uninterruptedly applied to objects of luxury. We have seen articles of furniture, down even to snuffers, showing on their branches and plane surfaces stalks, shells, and even the sun itself, the common styles of ornament in the period of Louis XIV. Cases of huntsmen's instruments, portable travelling'boxes (nicessaires) of the same epoch, and of the reign of Louis XV., show also elegant knives and jointed forks on which the incrusted gold displays its meandering lines with infinite grace.