a. and sb. [ad. Gr. τορευτικός, f. τορεύειν to work in relief, etc.)
A. adj. Of or pertaining to toreutics (see B.); chiefly in phr. toreutic art = toreutics; also, of figures, etc., executed according to the toreutic art; of an artist, working in toreutics.
1837. Antiq. Athens, 38. The Minerva of the Parthenon, also by Phidias, wrought in ivory and gold, the noblest example of the toreutic art.
1854. Gantillon, trans. Propertius, Elegies, 87, note. Mys.-A toreutic artist who lived B.C. 444.
1874. Edin. Rev., July, 187. The best toreutic representations of children are those of the Flemish artist du Quesnoy.
1910. D. G. Hogarth, in Encycl. Brit., I. 248/2. The … free sculpture and toreutic handiwork of Crete.
B. sb. [rendering Gr. τορευτική (sc. τέχνη) toreutic art: the Romanized form toreulicā occurs in 17th-c. Eng. use]. Chiefly in pl. Toreutics: The art, esp. the ancient art, of working in metal or ivory, including embossing, work in relief, chasing, etc.
[1662. Evelyn, Chalcogr. (1769), 16. Then the toreutice … for I can only name them briefly.]
1847. Leitch, trans. C. O. Müller’s Anc. Art, § 85. This species of work … is reckoned as a branch of toreutics, by which is meant sculpture in metals … and also this combination of metal with other materials.
1900. Year’s Work Class. Stud., 45. Pernice continues his notes on toreutic.
