Rosewood Handled Cheese Knife with a Lengthwise Silver Wire

This cheese knife brings Spratling's silver-and-rosewood idiom to a serving piece, with a lengthwise silver wire running the rosewood handle to accent its lines and a large silver blade carrying the working end. The wire is both ornament and structure, tracing the handle's form while tying the two materials together.

The pairing of a hardwood handle with a silver blade and wire inlay is characteristic of Spratling's tablewares, where wood gave grip and warmth and silver gave the design its line. The broad blade keeps the knife functional while the handle carries the studio's material signature.

As a silver-and-rosewood serving piece it belongs to the domestic line the workshop produced alongside its jewelry, hand-wrought to the same standard, and such mixed-material flatware turns up at auction only occasionally.