IMPOSANT PRELIMINARY KNIFE, suction. PRÉSENTOIR Probably Königsberg, late 16th/early 17th century. Octagonal flat handle of ivory and amber. A long amber section with ivory edges forms the centre of the handle, with ivory and amber segments arranged alternately above and below. There are narrow brass plates between the individual elements. The large amber plates on the handle are underlaid with gold foil and decorated with Venus under a canopy, inscribed VENUS and the depiction of a crowned man with a cross and sphere, inscribed SOL. A five-pass ivory grip crown forms the end of the handle. In addition to four round amber inlays, the grip crown is decorated with two small églomisé inlays with an unknown coat of arms (fleur de lys, monogram EI (?), possibly the coat of arms of the Imhof family from Basel). The narrow sides beneath the amber are partly illegibly inscribed GEVE GOT SOVEL ALSE SE MI GONNE or ALLE DIE (...) DEN (?). A brass baluster forms the end of the grip. Broad iron blade, moulded bolster. A smith's mark inlaid with copper. L 52 cm. Cracks and wear marks in the amber and ivory, some chips and chipping. The églomisé inlays show damage on both sides. Blade corroded. Cf. Georg Laue. Precious cutlery for the art chambers of Europe. Laue places his examples in Königsberg and dates them to around 1580 on the basis of a stylistically similar example from the Mainfränkisches Museum in Würzburg. Furthermore, the use of gold foil under the amber plate is similar to our example. This type of magnificent cutlery can be found in numerous renowned museums worldwide, namely the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (inv. no. M.920 & A-1926), the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg (there as knife handle inv. no. 18062), the Green Vault in Dresden (there as knife handle, inv. no. III 88 ff/1) and the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna (inv. no. D207). For further comparative pieces, see: - Arthur Pabst, Die Kunstsammlungen Richard Zschille in Grossenhain, Besteck-Sammlung Speise- Tisch- Gärtner-Geräte und Werkzeuge. Berlin. 1893, plate 22, fig. 136. - Jochen Amme. Historical cutlery, Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum Aachen collection, 2011. p. 79, fig. 35. - Jochen Amme. Cutlery The Egloffstein Collection at Wartburg Castle. Stuttgart, 1994. pp. 56/57, figs. 42/43. See in particular the small medallions underlaid with gold foil in the handle ends. - A pair of cutlery with figurative gold foil motifs like our example: Bayerisches Nationalmuseum. Cf. Gertrud Benker. Old cutlery, a contribution to the history of table culture. Munich. 1978, p. 70, fig. 86. - Collection of the Solingen Blade Museum (inv. no. L.020 a-d) This object has a trade licence for the EU. Due to the use of protected materials, this object may not leave the EU.