INCHASING, or Chasing, the art of enriching and beautifying gold, silver, and other metal work, by some design or figures represented thereon in bas-relief. It is performed by punching or driving out the metal, in order to form a figure, from withinside, so as to stand out prominent from the plane or surface of the metal. In order to this, a number of fine steel blocks or punchers of divers sizes are provided; and the design being drawn on the surface of the metal, the inside is applied to the heads or tops of these blocks, directly under the lines or parts of the figures; then the metal, sustained by the block, being struck by a hammer, yields, and the block makes an indenture or cavity on the inside, corresponding to which there is a prominence on the outside, which stands for part of the figure; and thus the workman proceeds to chase and finish all the parts by the successive application of the block and hammer to the several parts of the design. It is wonderful with what beauty and justness artists, by means of this simple piece of mechanism, represent foliations, grotesques, animals, histories, and the like.