There are 5 other images of this object. This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions), and as such we offer a high-resolution image of it. See our image rights statement.

 

See more objects with the tag dining, tableware, eating, serve, flatware, knives.

Object Timeline

-0001

1996

  • We acquired this object.

2002

2006

2015

2025

  • You found it!

"Assyrian Head" Pattern Cake Knife Knife

This is a knife. It was designed by Rogers Brothers Silver and manufactured by Meriden Brittania Company. It is dated 1886–87 and we acquired it in 1996. Its medium is silver plated, metal. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.

text from "Implements of Eating" in Feeding Desire exhibition catalogue:

"An extensive collection of individual flatware and serving pieces demonstrates both atste and presumed wealthy, but unfortunately, the ante was constantly being upped (fig. 28). Once everyone began to use forks, for instance, this utensil no longer represented status, even if knowing its proper usage did. Flatware manufactureres played on American's social anxiety and inherent insecurity about their relative lack of sophisticaion vis-a-vis the Europeans by introducing new forms, which led to the unprecedented proliferation of silverware during the second half of the nineteenth century."

It is credited Museum purchase from Decorative Arts Association Acquisition Fund.

  • Cake Knife Knife
  • silver.
  • Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund.
  • 2011-7-1

Its dimensions are

L x W x D: 27.3 × 3.7 × 0.4 cm (10 3/4 × 1 7/16 × 3/16 in.)

It has the following markings

On reverse of stem, stamped: [1] Star [2] Rogers & Bro [3] A1

Cite this object as

"Assyrian Head" Pattern Cake Knife Knife; Designed by Rogers Brothers Silver; Manufactured by Meriden Brittania Company; USA; silver plated, metal; L x W x D: 27.3 × 3.7 × 0.4 cm (10 3/4 × 1 7/16 × 3/16 in.); Museum purchase from Decorative Arts Association Acquisition Fund; 1996-79-5

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Feeding Desire: Design and the Tools of the Table, 1500-2005.

This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18654123/ |title="Assyrian Head" Pattern Cake Knife Knife |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=7 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>