Fork
Dateca. 1760
OriginEngland, Staffordshire
MediumLead-glazed earthenware (cream-colored earthenware / creamware); silver; steel
DimensionsFork: OL: 9 1/8 in.; Haft length: 4 3/8 in.
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number2021-24,1
DescriptionFork: lead-glazed earthenware (creamware) pistol-shaped haft, molded and decorated to mimic cauliflower with a dark green glaze in between undecorated tip and collar; silver ferrule and steel two-tine fork.Label TextCeramic-handled flatware was popular in the mid-eighteenth and into the beginning of the nineteenth centuries and reflected pottery and porcelain fashions at the time. Newspapers, inventories, and the archaeological record document its prevalence in England and her colonies among gentry households, often supplementing silver, silver plated, or other composite handled forks and knives.
Ceramics mimicking fruits and vegetables paralleled the popular interest in the natural world. The products of Josiah Wedgwood's pottery, in particular, excelled in the production of cauliflower ware and, when out of fashion in England, marketed the overflow stock to America. Although known to be prevalent in the period, ceramic handled flatware copying the appearance of cauliflower is today a rare survival.
ProvenanceKeno Auctions, Estates and Asian Works of Art, Lot 0359, April 7, 2021. Provenance listed as "A Distinguished Orange County, New York Collection of Creamware."
Keno Auctions, A Distinguished New York Collection of Creamware Sale, Lot 0377 (unsold), November 18, 2020.
