Lot 1601 - S20 An important private collection of antique cutlery - Thursday, 21. March 2024, 10.00 AM
IMPRESSIVE, FIGURAL KNIFE HANDLE FEATURING A YOUNG NOBLEMAN WITH A HUNTING FALCON
French or Northern European, ca. 1400.
The handle is made of bone or boar's tusk in the form of a young nobleman in a long, flowing robe. He wears his hair combed back in waves and ending in a roll. On his right arm is a falcon, which he is feeding with his other hand.
L 8,5 cm.
Multiple cracks and fissures, the end of the blade with a chip.
Rare and early figurative knife handle depicting falconry (falcon hunting), which probably originated in Central Asia and was also very popular with the nobility in the European cultural area in the Middle Ages and is a symbol of the courtly world. Corresponding motifs can also be found on boxes, furniture and in artistic manuscripts (see Iris Kolly. Kunstvolle Essbestecke - Eine Auswahl aus der Sammlung des Historischen Museum Basel. Basel, 2006. p. 13). Cf. for a similar handle whose iconography takes up that of the nobleman with bird: Metall für den Gaumen, Bestecke aus den Sammlungen des Österreichischen Museums für angewandte Kunst. Riegersburg Castle, 1990, p. 25, fig. 6). There, the object is still attached to the blade. Another fine example can be found in the collection of the Klingenmuseum Solingen (inv. no. 2006.M.028). A stylistically related but somewhat more simple example can be found in the Marquardt collection: see Klaus Marquardt. Europäisches Essbesteck aus acht Jahrhunderten. Stuttgart, 1997. p. 24, fig. 28.
Rare and early figurative knife handle depicting falconry (falcon hunting), which probably originated in Central Asia and was also very popular with the nobility in the European cultural area in the Middle Ages and is a symbol of the courtly world. Corresponding motifs can also be found on boxes, furniture and in artistic manuscripts (see Iris Kolly. Kunstvolle Essbestecke - Eine Auswahl aus der Sammlung des Historischen Museum Basel. Basel, 2006. p. 13). Cf. for a similar handle whose iconography takes up that of the nobleman with bird: Metall für den Gaumen, Bestecke aus den Sammlungen des Österreichischen Museums für angewandte Kunst. Riegersburg Castle, 1990, p. 25, fig. 6). There, the object is still attached to the blade. Another fine example can be found in the collection of the Klingenmuseum Solingen (inv. no. 2006.M.028). A stylistically related but somewhat more simple example can be found in the Marquardt collection: see Klaus Marquardt. Europäisches Essbesteck aus acht Jahrhunderten. Stuttgart, 1997. p. 24, fig. 28.
Multiple cracks and fissures, the end of the blade with a chip.Rare and early figurative knife handle depicting falconry (falcon hunting), which probably originated in Central Asia and was also very popular with the nobility in the European cultural area in the Middle Ages and is a symbol of the courtly world. Corresponding motifs can also be found on boxes, furniture and in artistic manuscripts (see Iris Kolly. Kunstvolle Essbestecke - Eine Auswahl aus der Sammlung des Historischen Museum Basel. Basel, 2006. p. 13). Cf. for a similar handle whose iconography takes up that of the nobleman with bird: Metall für den Gaumen, Bestecke aus den Sammlungen des Österreichischen Museums für angewandte Kunst. Riegersburg Castle, 1990, p. 25, fig. 6). There, the object is still attached to the blade. Another fine example can be found in the collection of the Klingenmuseum Solingen (inv. no. 2006.M.028). A stylistically related but somewhat more simple example can be found in the Marquardt collection: see Klaus Marquardt. Europäisches Essbesteck aus acht Jahrhunderten. Stuttgart, 1997. p. 24, fig. 28.
CHF 2 500 / 3 500 | (€ 2 580 / 3 610)
Sold for CHF 3 250 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.