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Object Timeline

1985

  • We acquired this object.

2002

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2025

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Knife with Porcelain Handle (Paired with Fork) Knife

This is a knife. It was manufactured by Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. It is dated after 1730 and we acquired it in 1985. Its medium is hard paste porcelain, vitreous enamel, steel, silver. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.

text from "Historical Overview" in Feeding Desire exhibition catalogue:

"However, porcelain handles were made for export in China and given European blades (fig. 66). In France, the production of porcelain handles initially was confined to blue and white. The hard-paste porcelain produced by Augustus the Strong's Meissen manufactory started adding color in the decade between 1710 and 1720, and expanded later (figs. 67,68)."

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: 22.2 × 2.3 × 1.8 cm (8 3/4 × 7/8 × 11/16 in.)

It has the following markings

Unmarked

It is signed

Unsigned

It is inscribed

Uninscribed

Cite this object as

Knife with Porcelain Handle (Paired with Fork) Knife; Manufactured by Meissen Porcelain Manufactory (Germany); Germany; hard paste porcelain, vitreous enamel, steel, silver; L x W x D: 22.2 × 2.3 × 1.8 cm (8 3/4 × 7/8 × 11/16 in.); The Robert L. Metzenberg Collection, gift of Eleanor L. Metzenberg; 1985-103-189

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/18803877/ |title=Knife with Porcelain Handle (Paired with Fork) Knife |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=7 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>