sgraffito
Americannoun
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a technique of ornamentation in which a surface layer of paint, plaster, slip, etc., is incised to reveal a ground of contrasting color.
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an object, especially pottery, decorated by this technique.
noun
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a technique in mural or ceramic decoration in which the top layer of glaze, plaster, etc, is incised with a design to reveal parts of the ground
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such a decoration
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an object decorated in such a way
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sgraffito
1720–30; < Italian, past participle of sgraffire to do graffito work, derivative of sgraffio a scratch, implement for drawing, itself derivative of ( s ) graffiare to scratch, draw on plaster with a pointed tool; see ex 1, graffito
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The couple made the place their own by lining open shelves with vintage cafe pitchers, old stoneware confit pots and sgraffito ceramics by the Marseillais potter Vincent Verde.
From New York Times • Mar. 20, 2024
And then there’s Phoebe Collings-James, 33, a multidisciplinary London-based artist who has been making wheel-thrown pots accented with abstract slipware drawings and painted sgraffito marks since 2018 under the name Mudbelly.
From New York Times • Mar. 17, 2021
In each lobby, the rear wall is a great screen of leaded glass leading out to a covered stone loggia with sgraffito decoration in the classical style, and then to the garden itself.
From New York Times • Jul. 14, 2011
Typical sgraffito ware, therefore, dates from 1664 to 1695, plus or minus a few years.
From North Devon Pottery and Its Export to America in the 17th Century by Watkins, C. Malcolm
The 18th-century and 19th-century North Devon sgraffito ware surviving above ground differs considerably in style and form but in other respects it is the same as the ware found archeologically in Virginia and Maryland.
From North Devon Pottery and Its Export to America in the 17th Century by Watkins, C. Malcolm
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
