German Ivory Museum Erbach, Art museum in Erbach, Germany.

The German Ivory Museum Erbach is an art museum in the town of Erbach, in the Odenwald region of Germany, displaying carved ivory works spanning several centuries. The objects come from Europe, Africa, Asia, and Greenland, covering a wide range of craft styles and techniques.

In the late 18th century, Count Francis I of Erbach returned from travels across Europe and began supporting ivory carving in the town, gradually turning Erbach into a recognized center for this craft. The museum grew from that local tradition, bringing together works that trace how the craft developed over generations.

The collection spans European, African, Asian and Greenlandic ivory carving from the Middle Ages to the present, with a focus on 19th- and 20th-century carvers of the Odenwald such as Jan Holschuh. In the museum workshop, carvers demonstrate their tools and techniques, including work with the tagua nut, a plant-based substitute for ivory.

Since 2016 the museum occupies seven ground-floor rooms of Erbach Palace, reached on foot from the town centre. The carving workshop sits in a separate building on the same site, where carvers show tools and techniques. Allow time for both, and note that the displays follow a chronological route from Count Franz I to the modern period.

A separate treasure chamber inside the museum holds twelve showcases dedicated to carved works from the 18th to the 20th century, with a focus on pieces made in Erbach and other German workshops. This room gives a clearer sense of how the local craft tradition looked compared to the broader international collection on the other floors.