Sugar Bowl

Staffordshire

1765-1780

This piece was decorated mechanically, using a lathe. A lathe is a machine on which a round object, such as this sugar bowl, is spun and shaped or decorated against a fixed cutting tool. This takes place when the vessels have dried and are in a leather-hard state, before firing. Josiah Wedgwood used this technique to create his colorful diced pattern jasperware. The designs of engine-turned decoration are in relief and tend to be geometric.