Leaf carving is carved decoration in the form of leaves and foliage, applied to furniture, woodwork, stone and architectural ornament. The most important motif in Western ornament is the acanthus leaf, inherited from classical architecture, but carvers have also used oak, laurel, palm, vine, ivy, water leaves and many naturalistic forms.
Leaf carving is found throughout the history of English furniture, from the stylised foliage of Tudor and Jacobean oak, through the crisp acanthus on the knees of Georgian cabriole legs, to the naturalistic garlands of the Rococo and the restrained water leaf and laurel of the Neoclassical and Regency periods. Grinling Gibbons and his followers produced astonishing realistic leaves, flowers and fruit in limewood in the late seventeenth century. Victorian carvers drew on all historic styles, often with great virtuosity. When assessing leaf carving, look for crispness, depth and confidence of cutting, with clean undercutting and veining that follow the natural form. Soft, worn or rounded carving can indicate later work or heavy cleaning, while later carving added to plain earlier furniture is a common enhancement, revealed by fresh tool marks or an unconvincing surface.
