Object details
Object number
M18s21.a-d
Creator(s)
Japanese
Title
Chopsticks, Knife, and Scabbard
Date
early 19th century
Medium
Silver with mother-of-pearl
Dimensions
13.5 cm (5 5/16 in.)
Provenance
Purchased by the art collector and design theorist Denman Waldo Ross (1853-1935) in China.
Gift from Denman Waldo Ross to Isabella Stewart Gardner, 21 December 1923. (as Chinese)
Commentary
When Denman Waldo Ross gave this set to Isabella, he wrote "I remember how successfully you used the chop sticks when you had Chop Suey with us: so I am sending you a pair of them with a knife to cut up things. I bought the little set in China and have no doubt that the late Empress Dowager had one just like it!"
Bibliography
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 147. (knife as Japanese, dated early 19th century)
Gallery
Little Salon
Rights and reproductions
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