[From the Italian intaglio, ‘carving’] in sculpture the term denotes a hollow or negative design which is usually cut into a hardstone or metal die that, when pressed or stamped onto a soft substance, gives an impression or a positive relief, for example on early Mesopotamian cylinders. In printmaking, intaglio refers to all metal-plate processes, such as engraving and etching, in which the recessed areas which have been created and then inked are printed from (as opposed to the raised areas of relief printing or the flat surface adhesion of planography).