Chip-carving display

If you are visiting The Mint, why not come into the Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection to see the latest array of temporary and semi-permanent displays?

Chip-carving is a woodcarving technique in which geometric patterns are incised into timber surfaces in low relief by means of chisels, gouges and parting tools. On display is a wonderful example of this craft - a demountable occasional table, produced in Melbourne around 1902 by English-trained emigrant carpenter George Stevenson Liggins (1874–1907).

Chip-carving also became a fashionable hobby for the middle classes in Australia, particularly among women, during the Arts and Crafts movement (1880s–1930s). As an addition to the many handcrafts used by women to decorate interiors, chip-carving was suited to the home environment as it required few tools and created little mess.

Common late-19th- and early-20th-century examples of chip-carving are small decorative objects such as picture frames, panels in pieces of furniture and small boxes produced from softwood timbers such as pine and cedar. More about Chip-carving.

Follow the signs to the Historic Houses Trust Reception from the front entrance of The Mint, and you will find the Library entrance nearby.

Please note that the Library's opening hours are 10am-5pm, Monday to Friday.