Browse the Silver Collection
Browse:
Click to hide image
Fork: The fork first arrived in Italy from Byzantium in the eleventh century and was in regular use there by the fifteenth century. It was a while before the fork was accepted elsewhere in Europe. In 1518, Martin Luther amusingly quipped, ‘God preserve me from the little forks’! It finally came into common use in the seventeenth century, where it developed from the two-pronged type to one of three or four prongs, demonstrating its transition from carving or serving fork to one used for eating.
Fork: The fork first arrived in Italy from Byzantium in the eleventh century and was in regular use there by the fifteenth century. It was a while before the fork was accepted elsewhere in Europe. In 1518, Martin Luther amusingly quipped, ‘God preserve me from the little forks’! It finally came into common use in the seventeenth century, where it developed from the two-pronged type to one of three or four prongs, demonstrating its transition from carving or serving fork to one used for eating.
|
Silver, parcel-gilt, agate and iron
Origin: Probably England
Date: Early 17th century and later
19.3 cm length
Presented by an donor who wishes to remain anonymous; WA2007.143
T. Schroder (2009), no. 573
The detachable handle suggests that this piece came from travelling case. However, the fork is later and it was more likely to have accommodated a knife blade.
Information derived from T. Schroder, British and Continental Gold and Silver in the Ashmolean (2009)
Other Images
Click to hide image
Click to hide image
Click to hide image
|
|
|