Only problem I have with this is that, in the plate, from the shadows it casts, it looks to me like the handle is in "positive" relief, relative to the background.

How it would serve as a [lost wax] "moule" if this were the case is beyond me.



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Note added at 36 mins (2017-07-19 17:42:41 GMT)
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Phil is right, of course:

"RELIEF: a. Moulding, carving, stamping, etc., in which the design **stands out from a plane surface** so as to have a natural and solid appearance. Also: work done in this way; the part which so projects." --OED

The answer lies in the proper terminology for "reverse relief" --in which the "design" is embedded below the surface of the plane, rather than "standing out" from it.

What the hell is that called?

The only thing I can think of is to insert "reverse" before "relief" in my answer.

It's a "reverse low relief"

But I'm not happy with that.

It seems to me that, at least after the earliest dynasties, Egyptian figurative relief sculpture (including hieroglyphic lettering) was as often in (literal) relief --i.e., "positive," standing out from the surface plane-- as it was in "negative" relief.

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Note added at 50 mins (2017-07-19 17:56:47 GMT)
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Just to make clear what I'm talking about...

"Positive" ["regular"] Relief:

http://cdn.history.com/sites/2/2014/01/hesire-relief-P.jpeg (Which looks like it's pretty early, to me, first few dynasties.)

http://www.veniceclayartists.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/... (somewhat later, judging by the style and the "blue crown" which I believe did not come in before the Middle Kingdom.)

And what I'm calling "reverse relief" (the figures *below* the surface ground):

http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1375/761157146_5f85a65e96_o.jp...

http://www.thefakebusters.com/relief carving/photos relief c...

Note that, in either technique, there is considerable "modeling" possible on the surface of the figure itself --i.e., the reverse relief benefits from having the outline of the figure much clearer and more easily "read" but, within that outline, the actual surface of the figure can be treated with great subtlety.

Examples of both techniques exist in their thousands.

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Note added at 1 hr (2017-07-19 18:06:58 GMT)
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Perhaps "intaglio" or "sunken relief"

http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Egyptian reliefs

"Reliefs are either sunken or raised. Sunk, or coelanaglyphic, relief, in which the outlines of modeled forms are incised in a plane surface, was used primarily in ancient Egyptian architecture and in ancient Greek, Roman, and Oriental glyptics. A variation of sunk relief is intaglio—the exact reverse of raised relief. Intaglio was intended as a means to achieve a miniature low relief."

I'd go with "sunken relief" --fundamentally oxymoronic as that might be, as Phil suggested. And "intaglio" being a somewhat obscure term (which B. does not use himself.

So, if I had it to do all over: "engraved or sculpted in sunken relief"

It's still a "relief" in that the forms are articulated in various planes, but the whole figure is "sunken."

Which still leaves the question of why the damned thing looks (to my tired eyes) to be carved in *actual* (raised) relief in the photograph.

But, yet once again, it's B.'s text which is being translated, no matter whether it makes sense or not.