sgraffito

American  

[skrah-fee-toh, zgrahf-fee-taw] / skrɑˈfi toʊ, zgrɑfˈfi tɔ /

noun

sgraffiti plural

1. a technique of ornamentation in which a surface layer of paint, plaster, slip, etc., is incised to reveal a ground of contrasting color.

2. an object, especially pottery, decorated by this technique.

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sgraffito British  

/ sɡræˈfiːtəʊ /

noun

1. 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

2. such a decoration

3. an object decorated in such a way

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• sgraffiti
  plural

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

See Examples For:

sgraffito sgraffiti

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

One type was an elaborate and striking yellow sgraffito ware, the other a coarse utilitarian kitchen ware whose red paste was heavily tempered with a gross water-worn gravel or “grit.”

From North Devon Pottery and Its Export to America in the 17th Century by Watkins, C. Malcolm

Inside there are still fine tiles, but the sgraffito frieze has nearly disappeared from the outer cornice.

From Portuguese Architecture by Watson, Walter Crum

There are those intriguing inscriptions, called sgraffiti, etched into the thick-walled buildings, a decorative custom imported from nearby Italy in the 16th century.

From New York Times ● May 5, 2010

All this produces a very pleasing, rich, and beautiful effect; and there was an account of the method in the twenty-sixth chapter, dealing with sgraffiti, in the Treatise on Technique.

From Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects Vol. 05 ( of 10) Andrea da Fiesole to Lorenzo Lotto by De Vere, Gaston du C.