 |
| Tilman Riemenschneider Adam ca. 1495-1505 pear wood statuette Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
 |
| Peter Flötner Adam ca. 1525 boxwood statuette Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
 |
| Conrad Meit Adam ca. 1530-35 boxwood statuette Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
 |
| Conrad Meit Eve ca. 1530-35 boxwood statuette Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
 |
| Anonymous Sculptor working in Germany Adam ca. 1565-1600 pear wood statuette Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
 |
| Anonymous Sculptor working in Germany Eve ca. 1565-1600 pear wood statuette Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
 |
| Anonymous Sculptor working in Germany Study-Figure for Human Proportions - Male ca. 1550 boxwood statuette Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
 |
| Anonymous Sculptor working in Germany Study-Figure for Human Proportions - Female ca. 1550 boxwood statuette Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
 |
| Anonymous Sculptor working in Germany Figure of Christ (from a group representing The Flagellation) ca. 1600 boxwood statuette Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
 |
| Zacharias Hegewald Dead Christ ca. 1630 limewood relief Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
"Regional availability played a large part in determining which wood was chosen for a sculpture, though the properties of individual trees was also a factor. The hardness of a wood depends on the density of its grain. Softwoods from evergreens such as cedar and pine are coarse, less dense and easier to carve, whereas hardwoods from deciduous trees, such as oak, boxwood, walnut and limewood, are harder but more durable and allow more elaborate carving and finer details. In southern Germany, sculptors favoured limewood, but oak was more widely used in northern Germany, the Netherlands, northern France and England. Walnut was used in Burgundy and France, but in Italy, Spain and the Alpine regions pine or poplar were more popular. Wood is carved in a similar way to stone. The design is drawn on a split tree-trunk, the size of which usually determines the dimensions of the finished sculpture, though extra sections can be pieced in. The form of the sculpture is roughly carved with a broad axe and then shaped with tools such as the narrow axe, flat-headed chisels, gouges and skew-bladed firmers (a kind of chisel with a hooked end used for cutting folds in drapery). After carving, the surface is normally smoothed with sandpaper or other abrasives."
– from curator's notes at the Victoria & Albert Museum
 |
| Hans Peisser Cleopatra ca. 1550 pear wood statuette Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
 |
| Daniel Mauch Group of Erotes ca. 1520-30 pear wood statuette Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
 |
| attributed to Michel Erhart Allegory of Transience (young woman, young man, and old woman) ca. 1470-80 painted linden wood statuette Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
 |
| Hans Leinberger Figure of Death before 1519 pear wood statuette Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |