AS was said at the beginning of the last chapter, the dividing line between manufacturing and decorative techniques is not always clear-cut. Some of the decorative techniques, such as engraving, inlay and Pressblech, are largely concerned with changes to the surface or form of the metal. Enamel and garnet cloisonne’, on the other hand, are non-metallic additions to the jewel, comprising a complex of distinct skills. In this chapter and the next, we have attempted to divide the techniques into these two broad categories.

Carving

Carving may be defined as the removal of material by the use of sharp implements. The term normally refers to the removal of relatively large amounts of material, and can be used to produce fully three-dimensional forms, although we have found no such examples in Anglo-Saxon fine metalwork. In a less overtly three-dimensional way, however, we believe it to have been a crucial aspect of Anglo-Saxon decorative ideas in many media. Its use in stone, ivory, bone, antler and wood is well attested, but while there is some evidence for direct carving into metal, this was probably only done as a means of redefining designs which had been cast. This will either have been done with small hammer-driven chisels of iron, or for some of the finer work engraving tools will have been used (see below and chapter 2).

Much use has been made of the term ‘chip-carving’ to characterise a particular decorative technique, typified by such eighth-century objects as the nasal on the Coppergate Helmet, York (88, pl. 12), and a mount from Whitby (82) in the British Museum. The essence of the technique is that a basically flat design is left visible against a faceted background, formed by the removal of small angular ‘chips’. The term implies an origin in wood- carving, but it is found widespread in stone, bone and ivory as well as in metalwork.

Our experiments have shown that this type of carving is relatively easy to reproduce in non-metallic substances, especially in antler, and rather difficult to achieve in metal. This reinforces the evidence from those metal objects which have been examined critically, which are clearly cast from models that already had the decoration in place. The skill of the metalwor- ker in carving, therefore, was exercised at the stage of making the three- dimensional model, rather than directly on the metal object (see pp. 64--86, above).