The Advent of Relief Printing
Jan. 21st, 2018 09:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shantellRelief printing is a process in which a surface is etched or cut away so that the only surface remaining is the design to be transferred to a substrate. Some examples of relief printing are linocut, woodcut, metal cut, and anastatic printing (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2012, para. 1). Although the sixth edition of MEGGS’ History of Graphic Design claims relief printing was first developed in China during the Han Dynasty in the third century CE (Meggs & Purvis, 2016, p. 39), further research demonstrates the possibility of earlier examples in Egypt. Murals in the tomb of Beni Hasan, dating from around 1980 BCE depict garments which look like they have been block printed. Nevertheless, there are no known extant block-printed textiles from this period (Nydam, 2012, para. 5).
The oldest extant examples of relief printing do come from China, and two hypotheses describe how this early printing was achieved:
The Chinese are also credited with inventing movable type. Alchemist Pi Sheng fashioned three-dimensional characters from a mixture of glue and clay and cured them with fire. Pi Sheng affixed them onto a plate, inked them, and used them in the same fashion as block printing. When the printing was complete, the form was heated to loosen the wax so the characters could be put away until the next time they were needed (Meggs & Purvis, 2016, p. 46).
Encyclopedia Britannica. (2012). Relief Printing. Retrieved January 21, 2018, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/relief-printing
Meggs, P. & Purvis, A. (2016). History of Graphic Design (6th Edition). Hoboken, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Nydam, A. (2012, February 3). The Oldest Block Prints in the World [Blog post]. Retrieved January 21, 2018 from https://nydamprintsblackandwhite.blogspot.ca/2012/02/oldest-block-prints-in-world.html
What are your thoughts on ancient Egyptian block printing on textiles?
The oldest extant examples of relief printing do come from China, and two hypotheses describe how this early printing was achieved:
- Engraved seals, developed to make imprints in unbaked clay, were co-opted for use on paper. Instead of pressing the seals into clay, the surfaces of the seals were pressed into a red ink made from cinnabar, then pressed onto another substrate. This resulted in a red shape with the negative space creating white characters. Artisans cut away the area surrounding these characters so that these characters could in turn be printed in red on white paper.
- Stone tablets were inscribed with words and then these tablets were inked. Damp paper was then laid atop of these inscriptions and pressed into the depressions with a brush. Next, a cloth pad imbued with ink was rubbed over the paper to produce an accurate copy of the inscription (Meggs & Purvis, 2016, pp. 39-40).
The Chinese are also credited with inventing movable type. Alchemist Pi Sheng fashioned three-dimensional characters from a mixture of glue and clay and cured them with fire. Pi Sheng affixed them onto a plate, inked them, and used them in the same fashion as block printing. When the printing was complete, the form was heated to loosen the wax so the characters could be put away until the next time they were needed (Meggs & Purvis, 2016, p. 46).
References
Encyclopedia Britannica. (2012). Relief Printing. Retrieved January 21, 2018, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/relief-printing
Meggs, P. & Purvis, A. (2016). History of Graphic Design (6th Edition). Hoboken, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Nydam, A. (2012, February 3). The Oldest Block Prints in the World [Blog post]. Retrieved January 21, 2018 from https://nydamprintsblackandwhite.blogspot.ca/2012/02/oldest-block-prints-in-world.html
Question
What are your thoughts on ancient Egyptian block printing on textiles?
