![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
niello (nee-EL-oh) - n., any of several black enamel-like alloys usually of sulfur with silver, copper, or lead; the art or process of decorating metal with incised designs filled with niello; a piece of metal or an object decorated with niello. v. to inlay or ornament with niello.
An old process, documented to at least 1800 BCE (in Byblos and Egypt) with suggestive evidence of older use. Typically, the metal (such as silver) is incised and niello is added added as a powder or paste, then fired until it melts or softens, then flows or is pushed into the engraved lines, and it blackens as it cools. The plural of the noun is nielli, which is a clue of the word's origin: from Italian, from Medieval Latin nigellum, from neuter of Latin nigellus, diminutive of niger, black. Here's a Russian snuffbox from 1769 decorated with niello:
Thanks, WikiMedia!
And that wraps up the 6x6 extended theme week -- the rest of this week will be the usual unsorted heap o' words.
---L.
An old process, documented to at least 1800 BCE (in Byblos and Egypt) with suggestive evidence of older use. Typically, the metal (such as silver) is incised and niello is added added as a powder or paste, then fired until it melts or softens, then flows or is pushed into the engraved lines, and it blackens as it cools. The plural of the noun is nielli, which is a clue of the word's origin: from Italian, from Medieval Latin nigellum, from neuter of Latin nigellus, diminutive of niger, black. Here's a Russian snuffbox from 1769 decorated with niello:
Thanks, WikiMedia!
And that wraps up the 6x6 extended theme week -- the rest of this week will be the usual unsorted heap o' words.
---L.
