TEHRAN – Amir-Reza Seyyedi is among Iranian crafters who are making efforts to revive ancient Iranian skills and arts. He has just completed a lavishly embossed plate using the same techniques that were practiced during the Seljuk-era (1037–1194).

Geometric, plant and animal motifs has been embossed as ornamentation of the copper tinned plate, some examples of which are being kept at the National Museum of Iran, according to the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage & Tourism that sponsors such trends.

The term toreutics refers to artistic metalworking, hammering gold or silver or other materials, engraving, or using repousse and chasing to form minute detailed reliefs or small engraved patterns.

Toreutics claims great antiquity. The skill is said to be practiced in the Bronze Age and was well established centuries before the shaft graves. Toreutics flourished to an unusual degree among the peoples of Asia Minor, Assyria, Babylon, and passed from thence to ancient Persia. 

AFM/MG