{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O77560"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O77560/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AL6968/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AL6968/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AL6968","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AL6970","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AL6969","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O77560/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O77560","accessionNumber":"352-1870","objectType":"Knife urn","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"<b>Object Type</b><br>Knife-cases stored cutlery and were often placed on either side of a sideboard in a dining room, possibly on pedestals. This example and its pair (352A-1870) are in the form of classical vases. Items made in the Neo-classical style of the 1780s were popular as antiques after about 1860. These examples were made as fakes, between 1860 and 1870, but the Museum believed they were genuine when it bought them in 1870.<br><br><b>Materials & Making</b><br>The knife-cases are decorated with marquetry of several woods, including holly, sycamore, harewood, ebony and boxwood. The tops of the cases lift up on a central rod to reveal compartments lined with velvet to hold knives.<br><br><b>People</b><br>The Museum bought these knife-cases from Murray Marks (1840-1918), a well-known London antique dealer, on the recommendation of Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt (1805-1877), an eminent architect of his day. Wyatt regarded this pair as 'very elegant in all respects, difficult and good in workmanship'.<br><br><b>Time</b><br>About 1860, when these knife-cases were made, furniture veneered in pale wood and marquetry, imitating the style of designs by the 18th-century architect Robert Adam (1728-1792), was fashionable. For example, the London cabinet-making firm Wright and Mansfield exhibited new furniture veneered in such woods at international exhibitions in the 1860s and 1870s. The firm described such furniture as 'Adams style'.","physicalDescription":"Knife urn, one of a pair, veneered in tulipwood, mahogany, holly and other woods, some stained. The elongated body is inlaid to imitate fluting; the deep frieze shows delicate arabesques against a ground of holly; the top of the cover is concave and inlaid with a design of downward-facing laurel wreaths and formal motifs, below a carved, pine-cone finial. The upper part can be raised on a central shaft to show a mahogany surface which is pierced with concentric slots to hold cutlery and flatware (spoons and forks).\n\n","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"x40240"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"tulipwood","id":"AAT12469"},{"text":"mahogany","id":"AAT12221"},{"text":"holly","id":"AAT12156"},{"text":"harewood","id":"x40444"},{"text":"elm","id":"AAT12070"},{"text":"oak","id":"AAT12264"}],"techniques":[{"text":"joinery","id":"x36614"},{"text":"turning","id":"AAT53158"},{"text":"veneering","id":"AAT53878"},{"text":"inlay","id":"AAT53850"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Marquetry of tulipwood, mahogany, holly, harewood and other woods on a carcase of elm, oak and mahogany","categories":[{"text":"Tableware & cutlery","id":"THES48888"}],"styles":[{"text":"Neo-classicism","id":"x38958"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2006AL6968","2006AL6970","2006AL6969"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"123 (VA)","id":"THES49217"},"free":"","case":"CA10","shelf":"","box":"13"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Knife urn","id":""}],[{"text":"Knife box","id":""}],[{"text":"Knife case","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1860-1870","earliest":"1860-01-01","latest":"1870-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"in the style of 1780-1790"}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"352A-1870","id":"O80990"},"association":"Pair"}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"49","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"25","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"25","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions checked: Measured; 24/05/1999 by LH\n\nsquare base, 14.5 cms","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"One of this pair shown on display in the Octagon Court (Gallery 40) in January 1936, in neg. 74057, view 1c, and in neg, no. 73941, view no. 9.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Knife urn, one of a pair, veneered in tulipwood, mahogany, holly and other woods, some stained. The elongated body is inlaid to imitate fluting; the deep frieze shows delicate arabesques against a ground of holly; the top of the cover is concave and inlaid with a design of downward-facing laurel wreaths and formal motifs, below a carved, pine-cone finial.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Tomlin, Maurice, <i>Catalogue of Adam Period Furniture</i> (London: HMSO for the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1972), cat. no. W/1, p, 190."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"British Galleries:\nThese knife-cases are typical of the 18th-century antiques collected in the 1870s and 1880s, although we now know that they must have been almost new when they were purchased. Murray Marks (1840-1918), who sold them to the Museum, was a well known London dealer with a shop in Oxford Street.","date":{"text":"27/03/2003","earliest":"2003-03-27","latest":"2003-03-27"}}],"partNumbers":["352-1870"],"accessionNumberNum":"352","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1870,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN1623","2019LP2480","2019LV6174","2019LV5687"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-25","recordCreationDate":"2003-03-27","availableToBook":false}}