Carving Knives with sheath
Medieval, Knives, about AD 1406; Sheath,
about AD 1406-1410
From Dijon or Paris, France
The ritual of feasting was more formal in the Middle Ages
than today. The larger knives would have been used by an
'esquire carver' to chop, carve and then serve the meat to
his lord, who would have used the smaller knives himself at the
table.
The wooden handles of these carving knives are richly decorated
with armorial devices, mottoes and floral motifs. This
sophisticated design is carried out in translucent enamel and
gilt silver. On each side of each handle are two
armorial shields within a floral border, and a motto
's'il plaist a dieu' ('If it pleases God') with
floral motifs.
The heraldry has been identified as the arms of Jean de Touraine
and his wife Jacqueline of Bavaria-Hainault, who were
married in 1406.
The sheath is stamped and engraved with the design of a figure
of a peasant carriying a hoe within floral decoration, and
the motto 'J'endure' ('I persevere'). The cover of
the sheath is similarly decorated with a watering pot and the
conjoined initials 'Y' and 'O' possibly
for Ysabel of Burgundy and Olivier de Blois, her husband,
who were also married in 1406.
Although the motto may relate to the hard lot of the peasant,
the watering pot was a recognized symbol of inconsolable grief, and
may refer to the death of Ysabel in 1412.
J. Cherry, Medieval decorative art (London, The British Museum Press, 1991)
J. Robinson, Masterpieces: Medieval Art (London, British Museum Press, 2008)
O.M. Dalton, 'On a set of table knives in the the British Museum, made for John the Intrepid, Duke of Burgundy', Archaeologia-5, 60: 2 (1907), pp. 423-40