Ebony and Silver Carving Knife

An ebony handle joined to a silver blade, this carving knife is part of a larger set and shows Spratling extending his silver-and-dark-wood pairing to the dining table. The contrast of black ebony against bright silver is the same instinct that ran through his jewelry, the play of warm or dark material against metal (Morrill, Mexican Silver, 1994, p. 73).

A carving knife within a set points to the holloware and flatware Spratling produced alongside his jewelry, the kind of objects later gathered for exhibitions of his work. The pared, functional form belongs to the clean late design sensibility Morrill associates with his mature output.

The knife is recorded in the Cederwall and Riney Spratling Silver. Flatware of this kind comes to market less often than his jewelry.