Printing of banknotes, stamps and other securities (3)

Engraving steel intaglio printing technology is a very difficult art that combines painting art, carving art and technique. The engraver must have a certain basis for drawing, plus his own artistic inspiration, in order to reprint a manuscript (drawing or photo) on a special steel plate. Without years of tempering and profound literacy, it is difficult to achieve the desired artistic effect. In general, an excellent carving gravure cannot be imitated. Not only is it difficult for others to imitate, but it is also difficult for the sculptor himself to sculpt a steel plate that is exactly the same and has a good thread. In particular, the engraving of human heads requires not only a strong sense of three-dimensionality, a distinct hierarchy, clear lines (including hair and face lines), but also a direct knife-in-steel version. If you are careless, you will miss out. Therefore, the carving of a good steel intaglio portrait is actually a process of artistic re-creation, which requires half a year's careful carving to be completed. The steel gravure is used for banknote printing. It can not only enrich the content of the ticket, but also has strong anti-counterfeiting performance. The other printing methods are incomparable, and it still has high practical value, and it is constantly developing and improving.

Figure 17-13 Gravure Gravure

Under the guidance of American engraver Hai Qu, Chinese carving talents grew rapidly. By 1914, Hai Qu died in Beijing, and the rest of the United States experts also returned home. The carving steel intaglio work of the Printing Bureau was entirely completed by Chinese technicians. From June to July 1914, Chinese carving staff successfully carved the first set of steel intaglio banknotes on the side of the bank, according to their individual strengths and division of labor (Photos 17-15).

Coloring book 17-15

Coloring book 17-16

In 1915, the products of the Printing Department of the Department of Dudu Branch participated in the International Panamanian Games and won the prize of the tournament (Photos 17-16).

This is the first time in China. The award-winning products include the Bank of China’s Republican Memorial Coupon and several stamps.

Since then, the Chinese engraving steel gravure imprinting technology has developed rapidly and many outstanding works are still regarded as treasures. For example: the craftsman Yu Xilin's carved wheat diagrams, the technician's sinker's head sculpture, the technician's Liu Erjia's sculptures, the technician's cultivating woven maps (Figure 17-17), the stone maps (Figure 17-18) and technicians. Jia Zhiqian carved in Western and various machine-engraved shades, lace patterns. From these several product drawings, it is not difficult to see that during this period, the technical achievements of the engraving and gravure printing of the Printing Department of the Ministry of Finance were outstanding, which laid a solid foundation for the further development of the Chinese gravure steel intaglio printing technology.

Figure 17-17 Tillage weave