Collections Database

Description:
One of a set of four knives and forks (two knives, two forks) with Chinese export porcelain handles or hafts, and steel blades and tines. The ceramic handles are molded in the shape of a pistol and then decorated with polychrome colors in the form of flowers; the steel blades are scimitar-shaped. The records of the English East India Trading Company show that by the 1720s ceramic handles started to be imported into England, arriving as straight-sided or pistol shapes and decorated in either Imari (underglaze blue, overglaze red, and gilding) or blue-and-white colors.

Subjects:
Pottery; Enamel and enameling; glaze (coating by location); polychrome; Porcelain

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+56.426.2

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.