‖ sgraffito
(sgrafˈfito)
Also 7 sgrafit. Pl. sgraffiti (sgrafˈfiti).
[It.: see graffito; the prefix s- represents L. ex- (see ex-).]
a. (See quots. Cf. graffito.)
| 1730 Bailey (fol.), Sgrafit, a method of Painting in black and white only, not in fresco. 1847 Manual of Oil-Painting 126 Sgraffito. A kind of bold design, in black and white, done by scratching a wall where it was purposely painted of the former hue. 1847 Eastlake Mater. Hist. Oil Painting I. 150 Works so produced must have resembled the nielli, or, on a small scale, the sgraffiti of the Italians. 1902 Baldry Mod. Mural Decoration 101 The term sgraffito is now limited to a particular method of scratching lines upon a plaster surface... The plaster is so laid that the incisions in an upper coat reveal a lower stratum of a contrasting colour. |
| attrib. 1883 L'pool Daily Post, Panels in Sgraffito work. 1886 Offic. Catal. Col. & Ind. Exhib. 53 Layer upon layer of coloured lac are laid. Then, with a stylus, these coats are scratched through in a manner analogous to Italian sgraffito decoration. |
b. Pottery.
| 1878 [see Doulton]. 1889 C. T. Davis Pract. Treat. Bricks, etc. xv. 463 Each clay is to be separately compressed, unless sgraffito effects are desired. 1897 Sparkes & Gandy Potters 237 The introduction, in 1867–1870, of the ‘Doulton-ware Sgraffito’ pottery. These were vases and jugs made in the common pipe-clay, with simple incised or stamped patterns, coloured equally simply. |