Frosting (decorative arts)

It involves making very small marks in a surface so that it appears matt rather than polished, and in glass opaque rather than optically transparent.

Eventually Ancient Egyptian steles became more than just statements about a topic or events, and became a means of decoration.

Later period steles were made in dark stone, some approaching a light or deep black.

The lunette scene of shallow, to medium sunken bas relief, as well as all the Egyptian hieroglyphs are made with a frosting technique.

High quality examples of frosting with lighter backgrounds probably exist in Ancient Egyptian art or culture.