Flat cut

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Calligraphic flat cut by Erhart Falckeners (right: “maria”, left: “jesus”): eastern front of the southern bank group in the simultaneous church of Bechtolsheim

A flat cut is a carved decoration of flat wood sections in furniture and furnishings such as chests, cupboards, pews, pulpits and balustrades of galleries that was widespread in late Gothic in southern Germany and the Alpine countries, especially in Tyrol. In northern Germany, sculptural carvings were preferred during this period.

While oak wood was mainly used for plastic decorations, spruce boards were primarily used for flat cuts, which could be obtained inexpensively due to the emergence of sawmills.

The decorative representations of the late Gothic flat cut are figurative, ornaments or inscriptions. They are created after marking the contours with the goat's foot by flat cutting away or prying out the surfaces surrounding the objects to be represented with a carving knife , gouge or chisel . In many cases, the deeper ground is painted in color to increase the plastic effect.

Typical late Gothic ornaments show stylized climbing acanthus and thistle plants , but often also naturalistic depictions of plants.

The spread of flat-cut decorations takes place parallel to the emergence of the woodcut from the first half of the 15th century. Flat cuts often appear in connection with Gothic tracery . After transitional forms in the Renaissance, the late Gothic flat cut became less important, but came back into fashion with the neo-Gothic .

A well-known master of the flat cut was Erhart Falckener , who came from Bavaria and made church furniture in the Middle Rhine region around 1500.

Note: The term flat cut is used not only in wood carving, but also in ivory carving with an analogous meaning .

literature

  • H. Sobel, The church furniture of Erhart Falckener and his workshop with special consideration of the flat carving , self-published by the Society for Middle Rhine Church History, Mainz 1980
  • F. Herriegel, The Nordic Flat Cut, Hachmeister & Thal, Leipzig (approx. 1920).

Web links

  • H. Sobel, The church furniture of Erhart Falckener and his workshop with special consideration of flat carving , Mainz 1980 ( PDF )
  • C. Wels, The parish church of Kiedrich and the late Gothic village churches in the Rheingau p. 60–62 and Figure 26 ( PDF )
  • Two seat from approx. 1495 with coat of arms in the Sankt Theodor Church in Basel [1]
  • Peter Germann-Bauer and Friedrich Kobler (1992), flat section , in: RDK Labor