EARLY 17TH CENTURY, ALL PROBABLY ENGLISH

Details

A Group Of Three Table-Knives
Early 17th Century, all probably English
The first with slightly tapering blade with long bolster with traces of gold-damascening, struck with the London dagger mark and maker's mark, an acorn, and handle made of ivory and amber sections separated by brass shims, the ivory sections inlaid with amber pellets and the amber sections backed with gold eglomisé scrollwork (some damage and losses); the second in excavated condition, with drop-pointed blade struck with the mark of a Cardinal's staff, and copper-alloy handle (detached, slight damage) cast in the form of a crowned lion rampant bearing a shield chased with a caricature King's head (Henry VIII's ?) in profile; the last with leaf-shaped blade (tip missing) with short hollow-ground bolster with a transverse roped moulding, the handle with cusped top formed by the tang set between riveted wooden scales (slight damage)
6.11/16in. (16.8cm.) to 8¼in. (21cm.) (3)

Special notice

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Lot Essay

The mark on the first item was granted to five members of the London Cutlers' Company between 1606 and 1668, but the style of the knife indicates that it must be by either John Watford (or Whitfield) (1606) or Thomas Eamont (1609). The mark on the third piece was granted to George Lomely in 1606. See S. Moore, Cutlery for the Table, 1999, p. 280
The second item is similar to no. 38 in the Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition catalogue Masterpieces of Cutlery and the Art of Eating, 1979

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