[Woodcarver] woodcarving history...

[Lloyd Smith]

Several years ago we were in Kiev, Russia then, We visited a small museum 
that had carvings so small that you had to use a microscope to view them. 
One was a rose carved on a human hair. another was a hair drilled and 
carving inserted it it. All exhibits were very small and needed 
magnification to view.
At 04:55 PM 1/6/2005 -0500, you wrote:
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>Thanks for replying Maricha.  It certainly is thought provoking to view 
>such museum pieces.  We did our best to question the museum staff.  The 
>only english word they know is "no" along with a shoulder shrug.  Of 
>course all display explanations are in French as well.  There are 
>explanations posted by the entryway to each room that are in various 
>languages but they are very general descriptions of what that room is all 
>about.
>
>I thought maybe someone on this list could offer an opinion. LOL, I guess 
>they're not that old.
>Thanks
>Sally
>http://www.fancarversworld.com
>
>On Jan 5, 2005, at 2:11 AM, maricha wrote:
>wow sally
>wonderful of you to share the carvings that you have seen in paris.
>the tools must have been supermicroscopic. i wonder how many hours it took 
>them to do one bead, let alone the entire carving. quite interesting work 
>to provoke a lot of thought and discussions/and or opinions.
>thanks for sharing.
>
>cheers
>maricha
>
>>Recently we visited 2 museums in Paris:  The Louve and The Medieval 
>>Museum.  There were very intricately done woodcarvings dating to the 16th 
>>century and before.  Of course the medieval museum had the wooden combs, 
>>ear pics etc. with stories carved in the handles.  The carvings were so 
>>small & intricate you could barely see the detail with the naked 
>>eye.  The delicate work was incredible.
>>
>>The Louve had beads (for prayer) that were about 1/2-inch in diameter. 
>>The beads were on a string and totaled 10, some had 12.  Each bead had a 
>>line carved around the circumference.  The top portion as well as the 
>>bottom portion was then segmented into triangles, like a geometric ball. 
>>Story scenes were carved on these beads.  Each triangle was a complete 
>>scene.  One of the triangles was of the "Last Supper" with complete 
>>facial details and expression.  It was dated around 1503.
>>
>>Some of the very old European castles have these types of carvings as 
>>well.  What type of tools did the very early carvers have for them to do 
>>this kind of work?  Also, did they have something comparable to our 
>>magnifying glass?
>
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Lloyd Smith
Dundas, Ontario, Canada