Repouss&eacute (French for "pushed up") is a metalwork technique in which a malleable metal is ornamented or shaped by hammering from the reverse side. The opposite technique to repoussé is "chasing". These two techniques are used in conjunction to create a piece.

The most famous contemporary sculpture created with this technique is undoubtedly the Statue of Liberty in Upper New York Bay. The statue was formed by copper repoussé in sections using wooden structures to shape each piece during the hammering process.

A second example of monumental copper repoussé sculpture is Portlandia by Raymond Kaskey, which was installed in 1985 in downtown Portland, Oregon.

When repoussé is used for subtler designs, it is also called embossing.

History

The techniques of repoussé date from Antiquity and have been used widely with gold and silver for fine detailed work and with copper, tin, and bronze for larger sculptures. Among the most famous classical pieces using this techniques are the bronze Greek armour plates from the 3rd century BC.

During the 3rd millennium BC, in the Middle East, a variety of semi-mass production methods were introduced to avoid repetitive free-hand work. With the simplest technique, sheet gold could be pressed into designs carved in intaglio in stone, bone, metal or even materials such as jet. The gold could be worked into the designs with wood tools or, more commonly, by hammering a wax or lead "force" over it.

The alternative to pressing gold sheet into a die is to work it over a design in cameo relief. Here the detail would be greater on the back of the final design, so some final chasing from the front was often carried out to sharpen the detail.

The use of patterned punches dates back to the first half of the 2nd millennium BC, if not far earlier. The simplest patterned punches were produced by loops or scrolls of wire. By Hellenistic times, combined punches and dies were in use.