DecortypeWood, Inlay & Furniture › Sculptural Carving

Chip carving

Europe tradition · 5 examples · indicative market tier: Under $500 (entry level & living craft)

Chip carving or chip-carving, kerbschnitt in German, is a style of carving in which knives or chisels are used to remove small chips of the material from a flat surface in a single piece. The style became important in Migration Period metalwork, mainly animal style jewellery, where the faceted surfaces created caught the light to give a glinting appearance. This was very probably a transfer to metalworking of a technique already used in woodcarving, but no wooden examples have survived. Wikipedia →

Types & examples

A Chip Carving Knife
A Chip Carving Knife
Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
ChipCarving
ChipCarving
Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Cane with Chip Carving-saam 1986.65.23
Cane with Chip Carving-saam 1986.65.23
Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
Carvingknives
Carvingknives
Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5)
Joah carving potatoes for his father
Joah carving potatoes for his father
Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Where to buy

1stDibsHigh-end antiques & design marketplaceBrowse listings → LiveAuctioneersAggregated live auctions worldwideBrowse listings → InvaluableAuction-house listings & price archiveBrowse listings → Christie'sMajor-auction results & upcoming salesBrowse listings → EtsyLiving artisans & vintage dealersBrowse listings → eBayBroad secondary market — vet sellers carefullyBrowse listings →

Each link opens a live, image-rich search for this craft on that marketplace. Listings rotate constantly; authenticate significant pieces independently — attribution quality varies widely outside museum collections.