Plate: chip carved, mid-century, Hutsul (Ukrainian). Picture by Edgar Whipple

Plate: chip carved, mid-century, Hutsul (Ukrainian)

This plate was among my grandfather’s items, which were mostly intarsia of his own making. It was probably given to him shortly after the second world war.

A turned plate embellished with very intricate chip carving
A turned plate embellished with very intricate chip carving

The back of the plate bears an inscription, written in pencil, in English and German. It has been obscured by age, but what I can make out is:

To Groll (?)
from the Iro T(illegible)
Van (?) den Obpf
Germany

I interpret “Iro T…” as indicating one of the displaced persons camps in the post World War Two period operated by the International Refugee Organization (IRO), and “Obpf” as an abbreviation for Oberpfalz (Upper Palatinate in Bavaria). This would date it from mid 1940 to maybe the 1950’s, or whenever that particular camp was finally shut down. I have no idea who “Groll” might have been.

Back of the turned and chip carved plate


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