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Two-tined Fork with Brass Handle Fork
This is a fork. It is dated ca. 1690 and we acquired it in 1985. Its medium is brass, steel. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.
text from "Implements of eating" in Feeding Desire exhibition catalogue:
" Shared utensils meant shared germs; individual sets of cutlery and greater physical space between diners minimized the risk of contagion. In place of the medieval shared trencher, a separate plate was set before each diner, initially with only a spoon and knife, but eventually with a fork as well. Once the fork was adopted, hands no longer reached into the common serving bowl. The use of the fork was encouraged by a series of etiquette manuals, most famously Erasmus's 1530 De Civilitate Morum Peurilium, which equated good manners with virutous behavior. Thus the fork became a physical manifestation of a new code of politeness (figs. 8,9)."
This object was
donated by
Eleanor L. Metzenberg.
It is credited The Robert L. Metzenberg Collection, gift of Eleanor L. Metzenberg.
Its dimensions are
L x W x D: 13.4 × 1.2 × 1.2 cm (5 1/4 × 1/2 × 1/2 in.)
It has the following markings
Unmarked
Cite this object as
Two-tined Fork with Brass Handle Fork; possibly England; brass, steel; L x W x D: 13.4 × 1.2 × 1.2 cm (5 1/4 × 1/2 × 1/2 in.); The Robert L. Metzenberg Collection, gift of Eleanor L. Metzenberg; 1985-103-105
