Poker-drawings

Poker-drawings, the name given to designs (after well-known pictures generally) burnt into lime-tree or other wood with 'pokers,' which rather resembled plumbers' soldering-irons. The chief 'poker,' 'pyrotechnic,' or 'pyrographic' artists were John Cranch (1751-1823), Smith of Skipton, and Dr Griffiths, the master of University College, for whose chapel he executed an altar-piece after Carlo Dolce. At Knowsley are two poker-drawings ascribed to Salvador Rosa. A similar process, for adorning ships' cabins, table-tops, &c., was patented in 1865.