Wheel engraving is a technique for decorating glass in which the design is ground into the surface using small rotating wheels, traditionally of copper, fed with an abrasive mixture of oil and fine powder. The engraver holds the glass against the spinning wheel and builds up the image through a series of shallow cuts, changing wheels of different sizes and profiles to achieve fine lines, broad areas and modelled relief.
The technique was developed to a high level in Germany and Bohemia in the late seventeenth century, where thick, clear potash glass was ideal for deep engraving of portraits, landscapes, coats of arms and hunting scenes. In England, wheel engraving was widely used on eighteenth-century drinking glasses, including Jacobite and commemorative glasses, and the Victorian period brought finely engraved ferns, flowers and classical scenes from firms in Stourbridge and London. Wheel engraving produces a grey, matt surface that may be left frosted or polished to give a brighter effect, known as rock-crystal engraving. Collectors judge quality by the precision of the drawing, the depth of modelling and the subject matter, and they distinguish genuine wheel work from cheaper acid-etched decoration, which tends to look flatter and more uniform.
