Black Forest Wall Brackets

This beautifully antique wall bracket was carved in the Alps Mountains of France, circa 1870. Half circle in shape, the fruitwood corner shelf console features fine hand carved nature motifs including a caprinae head figure with glass eyes (or goat, antelope), foliage and tree branches. The small corbel...

This early 20th-century Swiss Black Forest hand-carved wood wall bracket is a stunning representation of the region’s renowned craftsmanship. The bracket features a beautifully detai...

This beautifully antique wall brackets were carved in the Alps Mountains of France, circa 1870. Half circle in shape, each fruitwood shelf consol...

A superb antique Black Forest chamois or mountain goat wall bracket shelf hand carved in Switzerland, circa 1900. This fine bracket features a handsome chamois with glass eyes surrounded by intricately carved leaves. It's perfect for your rustic lodge decor...

Black forest carved wall shelf in Lindenwood, with a central carved stag on a shaped plaque with carved oak leaves and tassels, below a shaped and molded shelf, Brienz, Switzerland, ca. 1880. Jay Arenski, et al, quotes Swiss Poet Heinrich Federer, who said in his memoirs, "Woodcarving brought riches to the village [of Brienz]. It became all the fashion and no Englishman left the Bernese Highlands without having seen the Giessbach, having eaten a fat roasted eel, and having bought a Brienz woodcarving." Arenski goes on to say, "Thus, as the tourist industry flourished and thrived, so did the carvers, selling their wares to the well-heeled visitors." This fashion had been set in motion by Queen Victoria's visit to the area in April 1868, and by her subsequent inspiration to build a Swiss chalet at Osborne House and fill it with Black Forest Swiss carvings...

This beautifully antique wall bracket was carved in the Alps Mountains of France, circa 1870. Half circle in shape, the fruitwood shelf console features fine hand carved nature motifs including a deer figure, foliage and tree branches. The corbel console...

Geographically speaking, “Black Forest” denotes the forested mountain range in southwest Germany. Since the early 1800’s, the phrase has been used to describe elaborate animal wood carvings, as the figures were thought to have originated in the Black Forest of Germany. It is believed that in the 1850s, the Trauffer’s, a family of woodcarvers, began popularizing the “black forest style” through their handicrafts, furniture making and their instruction in carving at a school in Brienz Switzerland. The popular notion that the Black Forest style has its roots in the the Bavarian Black Forest, in Germany, is likely mistaken. By 1910 there were some 1,300 cottage industries of woodcarvers in the environs of Brienz and the Black Forest style of carving became a major economic force and home industry throughout Switzerland. The communities of Luzern and Interlaken also became noted for these handicrafts. The popularity of black forest carvings was driven by both a strong tourist industry and the crafts movement. The “Black Forest” style describes wooden sculptures or carved replicas of nature’s bounty, incorporated into the design of household items. Antique Black Forest handicrafts exemplify Swiss folk art traditions and are seen in carved clock cases, hall trees, desks, picture frames, chairs and all variety of decorative objects and furnishings. Walnut and linden wood is typically used. The black forest style is the accomplished carving and trained whittling of realistic tree branches, twigs, bears, birds, deer, rabbits, edelweiss flowers and such Both of the brackets seen here feature a small, shaped shelf with a thin recessed molding along the underside. They rest on top of a tripartite tree trunk support, just above an eagle with wings displayed and expanded perched on a branch. Each eagle grips its prey with its talons. Additional branches dotted with small flowers surround each bird. The birds have been presented looking in opposite directions, allowing for them to be displayed on either side of a piece of art or architectural element. Our pair of Swiss black forest eagle wall brackets...

Beautiful antique Black Forest wall rack for letters. The rack is beautifully refined, each shelf has its own animal. We see a rabbit, foxes and birds. It is a beautiful piece of cra...

Place a bust or a vase on this elegant antique wall corbel; crafted in France, circa 1860, the fruitwood wall bracket features hand carved leaf motifs with...

Extraordinary rare pair of Black Forest rustic curtain rods from the late 19th century in Germany, circa 1880. These artfully hand carved curtain rods impress with a very unique "tree trunk" design. Even the endings were elaborately processed to give it this chapped look. A very dark brown stained surface additionally enhances the visual appearance of the beautiful carvings. The wooden pole on the backside can be easily taken off to hang up your curtains. The mounting system just needs two screws in the wall. A lovely pair of Black Forest curtain poles...

Antique Black Forest leaves pine wood wall bracket, circa 1900.

Pair of 19th century Black Forest wall sconces are remarkable examples of the genre, with mirror images of birds on a nest during the springtime, surrounded by lush foliage typical o...