Existing comment:
Rose-Engine Lathe
mid-18th century
Lambert Xhrouet
Ivory was turned on lathes, machines that rotated a given piece in a single direction and at a steady pace, so that it could be precisely shaped with a variety of cutting tools. On this lathe made by master turner Lambert Xhrouet is a brass plate engraved with the arms of his employer, Charles Alexander de Lorraine, brother-in-law of Empress Maria Theresa, and her Governor General of the Habsburg Netherlands from 1744. Xhrouet also served as court turner to Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, who owned a lathe of similar design that is depicted in the famous Encyclopédie. |