Toreutics. — It is the art of working metals through casting, hammering, engraving, chasing, etc.
Especially in antiquity the term is used to denote the activity and the work of artists who modelled, cast and chased objects in bronze, but in general it also denotes the artistic working of any other metal from iron to the most noble and precious (see SCULTURA). Thus for ancient Egypt, the Cretan-Mycenaean civilisation, the Villanovan civilisation itself, the Etruscan, the Greek, etc. In early Greek art, wooden sculptures with applied metal sheets are also considered toreutic works, while in later periods the term is restricted to denote the activity of repoussé workers, engravers, gem-engravers and goldsmiths who always worked with artistic intent domestic utensils and those intended for worship. Thus in the Middle Ages (see) as in later ages (see BAROCCO, ARTE; RINASCIMENTO), when the evolution of taste has left testimonies of the highest value both in bronze sculpture and in goldsmiths' work (see).