The damaskeening or inlaid work, wok which consists in embedding noble metal or iron on Steel, has its probable origin in similar work which may be traced to very old times.
It is likely the Egyptians who offer us the most remote background of this craftmanship, which was also cultivated by the Greeks and the Romans. But what is undaubtful is the importance it takes, subsequently, among Oriental people. In Byzantium this art acquires singular characters, and its appearance in Spain is determined by the Arab invasión (thereof its name which derives from Damascus). Toledo, welcoming the aesthetic and cultural contribution of so many people, open, in view of condition of its inhabitants to craftmanship work, has made of damaskeening a tradition maintained until today by the vocation of authentic masters.
MIDAS ensures that their products are made in Toledo of Yellow GOLD 24 kts. and Green GOLD 18 kts. with a minimum of 4 microns thick embedded (02/07/87 DOCM).
Toledo is to be considered an example of traditional craftsmanship, recognized and recognizable for its prestige and quality, inside and outside our borders, being the Damascene, the craftsmanship that best reflects this tradition.
The Damascene Toledo, was brought by the Arabs in their invasion of our soil in the eighth century, and this art, which complemented the knowledge of those magnificent metal craftsmen. However, different findings consist would date this date in the fifteenth century.
Although Arabic style is the most characteristic and genuine Toledo damascene, damascene craftsmen has always been one who wants to raise their dimensions artistic works have used the Renaissance style as a basis for other more creative compositions, where time large number of chests carved , caskets, jewelery box and neatly chiseled.
Among difficulties, ups and downs, the damascene has survived to this day in an arduous struggle for survival and conservation of one of the oldest art trades.
Entre dificultades, altos y bajos, el damasquinado ha llegado hasta nuestros días en una ardua lucha por la supervivencia y conservación de uno de los oficios artísticos más antiguos.
The process of manufacture,which today conjugates an inherited spirit with an instrumental progress, is based on the preparation of untempered pieces of iron or steel, giving them the exact shapes, afterwards proceeding with a careful scratching with very sharp and very hard steel knives, giving very compact and very close cuts in three different directions until a roughness is formed. On this base, the gold thread is embedded, pressing with a burin, accomplishing rich drawings. The gold is Aixed with a subsequent and light “hammering”. The slits are closed Aixing the gold. The Ainal operation is the bluing or complete oxidizing of the steel, which takes a deep black colour which makes more outstanding the drawings of the embedded gold.