A Belle Epoque silver paper knife - image-1
A Belle Epoque silver paper knife - image-2
A Belle Epoque silver paper knife - image-1A Belle Epoque silver paper knife - image-2

Lot 521 Dα

A Belle Epoque silver paper knife

Auction 1184 - overview Cologne
19.11.2021, 11:00 - Decorative Arts
Estimate: 10.000 € - 12.000 €
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A Belle Epoque silver paper knife

Curved blade with pierced foliate decor and two small gold plaques. The handle designed as a faun holding a rose in his left hand and a shell with a Baroque pearl in his right. The body formed from a bizarrely shaped natural pearl. Unmarked. L 25 cm, H of the large pearl ca. 30, W 24, D 21 mm, total weight 154 g.
Presumably French, late 19th C.

Certificate

Swiss Gemological Institute SSEF: confirming that the large pearl is a hollow natural pearl.

Literature

For more on the use of natural pearls in silverware cf. cat.. Macht & Pracht, Europas Glanz im 19. Jahrhundert, Annweiler 2006, p. 142 f.