Pyrography is the ancient art of burning designs onto wood, paper, leather, bone, and even cave walls. There is evidence that some South American Peruvian Indians used pyrography as far back as 3000 B.C..
In the Victorian era the art was called Poker Art, or Poker Work, and those names still apply in England and Australia. There are also examples of burnt wood being carved.

There are records of the ancients having woodburned, but burnings from the Medieval period and earlier are extremely rare. The reappearance of woodburning,poker work, or poker art, took place during the Victorian period where small benzene fueled burners made burning popular.

The survival of artifacts between the ancient ones, and the Victorian pieces, are very few and may be due to several factors. The pyrography was not considered an art form, like painting and sculpturing, and therefore there wasn't a great effort to preserve it. It has been considered more of a folk art and was used to decorate utensils, bowls, and other items that were not considered to be of any high value.

Only recently has there been a popular interest in discovering artifacts. Some of the burnings were painted over, or painted on, and are not easily recognizable as woodburnings. As interest rises, the hope is more people will recognize woodburning on the old furniture and other items that have survived and are somewhere amongst us.