Cheese Knife with Silver Blade and Nicely Carved Rosewood

A cheese knife with a silver blade and a carved rosewood handle is Spratling's table silver at its most pared, the design carried by the junction of bright blade and warm carved wood. The rosewood handle, shaped by hand, supplies the warmth and density he set against silver throughout his serving pieces, the same union of materials that runs through his hollowware.

The knife appears in Spratling's wholesale catalogs from 1942 to 1945, placing it firmly in the First Design Period. Worked without applied ornament, it relies on form and the carved handle. A period example, read by its early hallmark and the quality of the rosewood carving, is the documented piece.