Name/Title
Knife, folding with concealed forkEntry/Object ID
0000.1.158Description
158.01 Knife: Blade sharply pointed, with slightly concave edge, and a back that curves down to meet it forming the point: it is pivotted in a slot in the handle on a transverse iron pin with a spirally-engraved brass washer at each end. Handle of ivory, slightly tapering and of rounded oblong section slotted for the blade and carved to represent the front half of a sea-monster, with a male and female term, set face to face, protruding from its mouth. The eyes and ears of the sea-monster are inlaid with mother-of-pearl, the former with black pupils of horn (?), and small mother-of-pearl discs are set in the heads of the terms. The handle is elsewhere sparsely set with small coral beads, including the back spring. Set in the back of the sea-monster, is the spearhead-shaped combined spring and locking-catch for the blade, which is held by a transverse pin and chiselled in bas-relief with a serpentine and dart design.
158.02 Fork: The female term, which has a grotesque mask carved on its back, forms the handle of a small steel fork, set in a recess in the knife handle. It has two long straight tines and a short slender baluster neck of flattened octagonal section.Collection
Cutlery Collection, KnifeMade/Created
Date made
circa 1650Time Period
17Place
Country
GermanyContinent
EuropeInscription/Signature/Marks
Other Names and Numbers
Other Numbers
Number Type
Cutlery Collection Record BookOther Number
CC158Dimensions
Dimension Notes
Length: Knife: open 186mm
Fork: 104mmExhibitions
Exhibition
Masterpieces of Cutlery and the Art of EatingNotes
Exhibition Catalogue Number: 130
