Coral Carving,

is one of the more unusual crafts I have hard of,

all of these images were found at coralliepreziosi, on this page, and on Pinterest,

in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Trapani coral sculptures were made and exported from Trapani [Sicily],

the history of Trapani coral however has its origins much before and as early as the twelfth century, that famous Arab traveler, Muhammad Idrisi, noted the exquisite quality of the red material,

the discovery of reefs between 1416 and 1418 in the sea of ​​Trapani and in 1439 around San Vito Lo Capo, led to the immigration of religious Jewish families, originally from the Maghreb, who contributed to the processing and commercialization of the coral in the various markets in Italy. After the expulsions of the Jews in 1492/3, some converts remained and their sons continued the work,

these free-standing elaborate tableaux were often destined to lavish kunstkammers (cabinets of curiosity),

toward the end of the nineteenth century, the raw materials in the Mediterranean had declined significantly bringing about a decline of the various types of handicraft and of the art form even in Trapani.
     To renew interest in the 1980s, there was a international exhibition of the art of coral in Sicily, held at the Pepoli Museum in 1986, which exhibited beautiful masterpieces from collections of both national and foreign museums, young apprentices have since then have re-launched the craft and with much fanfare “reopened” shops in the city, creating with traditional techniques sophisticated jewelry, nativity scenes, sculptures and valuable objects, not to my taste I have to admit, but certainly treasured by many, coral carving, who would have thought it?