Intaglio
Intaglio. Negative relief; the design projects below the background; incised; carved, cut or stamped into and below the surface. Also called sunken relief. Opposite of raised or cameo relief, or diaglyph, although in most sense intaglio is the process, diaglyph is the resulting object. A die for striking an object with raised relief can be said to be in intaglio relief. Hand engravers usually cut dies intaglio. The term is more often used in glyptics – gem and cameo engraving and relief carving – than in numismatics. See
relief. In the field of graphic arts, intaglio printing is done with plates where ink is applied to paper from the sunken areas.excerpted with permission from
An Encyclopedia of Coin and Medal Technology
For Artists, Makers, Collectors and Curators
COMPILED AND WRITTEN BY D. WAYNE JOHNSON
Roger W. Burdette, Editor