Niello (Italian niello, from Latin nigellus, diminutive of niger - black) - a mixture of sulfides of silver, lead and copper, which is used to decorate metal products, mainly from silver. The crushed niello is applied to the engraved surface of the metal, the object is fired , after which a black or dark gray pattern is revealed on it, firmly fused with the base. The pattern is engraved on it. Blackening on silver and other metals was already known in the ancient world. Rough images (subject, landscape, ornamental) are performed on separate plates (for example, in Italy in the 15th-16th centuries) or decorate household items (dishes, cutlery, boxes, etc.), weapons, jewelry, etc. ( the rabble of Western European, Indian, Baltic peoples, etc.). For silver of the countries of the Middle East and the Caucasus, an ornamental niello pattern is characteristic.
Known are silver pendants, bracelets, lunettes with niello of Russian masters of the X-XIII centuries. The oldest work related to the niello business was found in a pagan princely burial of the late 9th-early 10th centuries - two vessels made of tur horns in a chased silver frame from the Black Grave mound. Niello was widely used by Russian jewelers in the 15th-16th centuries, the greatest variety of forms of products and subjects of rough drawings was achieved in the 18th century (see Veliky Ustyug silver blackening). Mobile is widely used in the art of metal processing in the village of Kubachi.