Designer: Bry, Johann Theodor de (After)
Silver and steel; the knife has a steel blade and a silver handle engraved on each side with scenes from the Book of Esther; the two tined fork is similarly decorated
Silver and steel; the knife has a steel blade with parallel sides and a gilt polymorphic bolster; the silver tapering square section handle broadens towards the openwork Renaissance terminal, which has a small gilt stepped baluster finial. Each side of the handle is engraved and enamelled in black with - from the bolster - a naked woman under an arch inscribed 'PRUDENTIA' or 'FIDES', a cherub sitting on top of the arch, a scene from the Book of Esther beneath an arch inscribed 'ESTHER', and - on the finial - a crowned winged heart and squirrel with fruit, or a winged cherub's head and basket of flowers. The fork has two long steel tines with a bolster and silver handle decorated similarly to that of the knife, except above a naked woman and Bacchic man are arches inscribed 'CIRES' and BACCHVS. The rectangular case is covered in brown leather with a tooled gilt border round the hinged lid. The fitted interior is lined with green velvet.
History note: Frank Smart Collection
From the Frank Smart Collection, given by T.J.G. Duncanson
Method of acquisition: Given (1930) by Duncanson, T. J. G.
17th Century, Early#
Production date:
circa
AD 1600
Handle
composed of
silver
Blade
composed of
steel
Box Lining
composed of
velvet
Box
composed of
leather
Length 23 cm
Width 4.9 cm
Fork
Length 19.8 cm
Knife
Length 21 cm
Inscription present: a scythe or sickle
Inscription present: 'FIDES', 'PRUDENTIA', 'CERES' or 'BACCHVS'
Accession number: M.61A-C-1930
Primary reference Number: 166987
Old object number: M.2-1930
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Knife, fork and case" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/166987 Accessed: 2024-12-22 05:09:56
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/166987
|title=Knife, fork and case
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-22 05:09:56|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-166987
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