Steel knife with an engraved and partly gilt handle decorated with trophies of arms and bearing the coat-of-arms of the Renier family of Venice. Italy, around 1550.

Steel knife, etched and gilt, bearing the arms of the Venetian family Renier. The handle is engraved with trophies of arms and armour and musical instruments, with foliate edges. It terminates in a pair of volutes and leaf ornament surmounted by a knob. The base of the sharply pointed blade is decorated with the coat of arms on one side and a trophy on the other. On the blade are the remains of an etched band of foliage.

The knife bears the arms of Renier a prominent family in Venice whose family chapel with arms is at the Church of Madonna Dell'Orto in Canareggio.

The Museum bought this knife at the sale of the R. Zschille Collection in Paris, 1900. This was lot 538 and the Museum paid £7. 18s 10d for it. Its provenance between Renier and Zschille is unknown.

This handle of this steel knife is engraved with trophies of arms and musical instruments, and includes the coat-of-arms of the prominent Renier family of Venice. The knife has a sharply pointed blade and originally would have been kept either on its own or as part of a set in a decorated leather case.

The knife was the main eating implement in Europe until the middle of the 17th century. The basic form of the table knife, a single-edged blade more or less pointed, with a handle, has remained virtually the same since Antiquity, although the details of construction, shape and decoration have varied.

Owning fine cutlery in the 16th century was an outward sign of wealth, elegance and refinement. It was normal practice for everyone to carry their own cutlery, especially a knife, in a leather case. Cutlery remained individual and personalised.

The survival rate also suggests that knives were not subjected to hard, repeated use. Although this knife is sharply pointed to enable it both to cut and skewer meat, fingers were used for much of the meal.

The handle of this steel knife is engraved with trophies of arms and musical instruments, and includes the coat-of-arms of the prominent Renier family of Venice. The knife has a sharply pointed blade and originally would have been kept either on its own or as part of a set in a decorated leather case.

The knife was the main eating implement in Europe until the middle of the 17th century. The basic form of the table knife, a single-edged blade more or less pointed, with a handle, has remained virtually the same since Antiquity, although the details of construction, shape and decoration have varied.

Owning fine cutlery in the 16th century was an outward sign of wealth, elegance and refinement. It was normal practice for everyone to carry their own cutlery, especially a knife, in a leather case. Cutlery remained individual and personalised.

The survival rate also suggests that knives were not subjected to hard, repeated use. Although this knife is sharply pointed to enable it both to cut and skewer meat, fingers were used for much of the meal.

109-1901