Intaglio
凹版印刷 / 15th century– / Technique / Intaglio Printing
Ink is left in lines and hollows cut below the surface of a metal plate, and heavy pressure drives damp paper into them, picking up precise lines and the trace of the plate's edge. How the plate is lowered gives each technique its name, so a plate bitten with acid is an etching and a plate roughened then burnished is a mezzotint.
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At a glance
Visual cues
- Sunken lines
- Plate marks
- Damp paper
- High-pressure press
Best used for
- Precise line work meant to resist copying, as on certificates and securities
- Small editions and cards where the relief in the paper is part of the object
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Dictionary entry
- Type
- Design letters at a weight that can be cut, avoiding sizes that fill in
- Composition
- Treat the plate mark as the frame and leave wide margins beyond it
- Material
- Copper or zinc, damp heavy paper, and enough press pressure to emboss
- Caution
- Distinguish how engraving, biting, burr and roughened ground change line quality and tone. Treating margin and pressure casually gives a flat print where the paper never rises around the lines.
- Further study
- engraving / drypoint / aquatint / plate tone
Related entries
- Etching (エッチング／腐食銅版画)Same Intaglio Printing lineage.Compare Intaglio and Etching
- Mezzotint (メゾチント)Same Intaglio Printing lineage.Compare Intaglio and Mezzotint
Cite this entry
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- https://indexstyle.org/styles/intaglio
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