niello
Americannoun
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a black metallic substance, consisting of silver, copper, lead, and sulfur, with which an incised design or ground is filled to produce an ornamental effect on metal.
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ornamental work so produced.
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a specimen of such work.
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a print on paper made from an incised metal plate before the application of niello and associated especially with 15th-century Italy.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a black compound of sulphur and silver, lead, or copper used to incise a design on a metal surface
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the process of decorating surfaces with niello
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a surface or object decorated with niello
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of niello
1810–20; < Italian < Latin nigellus blackish, diminutive of niger black
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A few years later, his student Giampaolo Babetto constructed a necklace of hinged golden cubes marked with smoky black niello.
From New York Times ● Jan. 18, 2024
Dr Mark Redknap, from National Museum Wales, said: "Silver brooches decorated with niello were popular across medieval Wales and this small example may have fastened clothing made of fine cloth."
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2021
Bangkok's shops were bulging with niello silverware, hand-woven silks, carved teak heads and snakeskin bags.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Giantslayer and his mount were armored in silvered steel inlaid with niello.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
The knight wore silver armor, his greaves and gauntlet inlaid with niello to suggest flowing fronds of seaweed.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
After this came some original drawings of doubtful interest, and then a case of fifty-two nielli.
From Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, First Series by Brown, Horatio Robert Forbes
He exhibited it at a meeting in London of the Archæological Institute, in November, 1882, where it was described as a “beautiful knife handle, decorated with nielli of Italian character.”
From Records of Woodhall Spa and Neighbourhood Historical, Anecdotal, Physiographical, and Archaeological, with Other Matter by Walter, James Conway
The nielli represented castles, cities, and territories which were subject to the apostolic see.
From Pagan and Christian Rome by Lanciani, Rodolfo Amedeo
The brass and nickel signs with black letters, which we find at the doors of business houses, are modern forms of nielli.
From What Philately Teaches A Lecture Delivered before the Section on Philately of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, February 24, 1899 by Luff, John N.
Another, not quite so good, is dated 1349, and has similar nielli, with interlacings of oak-sprigs.
From The Shores of the Adriatic The Austrian Side, The Küstenlande, Istria, and Dalmatia by Jackson, F. Hamilton (Frederick Hamilton)
They are besides set with enamelled, nielloed, or jewelled plaques of gold or silver.
From Russia As Seen and Described by Famous Writers by Singleton, Esther
What were the glorious works of those mediæval artists in stone and canvas, in orfevery and silver, in marble and bronze, nielloed salvers, golden chasing, laces as from fairy-land, canopies, garments and gems?
From The Continental Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 1, January 1862 Devoted to Literature and National Policy by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
