Engraving is best described as which practice?

• A. Carving wood blocks for relief printing.
• B. Applying gold leaf to surfaces.
• C. Using lithography to create prints.
• D. Embellishing metal surfaces with incised pictures.

Answer: (D)

Engraving is the technique of incising lines into a hard surface, most commonly metal, so the grooves can hold ink and create an image when pressed onto paper. That makes the description of embellishing metal surfaces with incised pictures the best fit, because it captures both the material (metal) and the act (incising) that defines the process.

The other options point to different methods: carving on wood blocks creates relief prints rather than incised lines on metal; gilding adds gold leaf as decoration without incising the surface; lithography uses a flat surface and relies on chemistry of oil and water rather than incised grooves. So engraving is best described as incising pictures into metal surfaces.