Sixteen Antique French Silver Plated Basset Hound Knife Rests

Code: K1/129

Dimensions:

For anyone who ever dreamed of owning a pack of Basset Hounds - here is the perfect opportunity. These beautiful little French cast metal dogs have been given a light French Silver Plating and are the perfect shape to hold used cutlery away from table linen and are guaranteed to raise a smile. They would make a great addition to the head table for a Wedding Breakfast, for instance; a generous host might give their guests a little dog to take home. Or keep them, a new Family Antique Collection, to be used at family gatherings and dinner parties. Three of the sixteen have a mark on the side, "Blanche Porte  ".

Knife Rests have been used for longer than most people think. In the early 18th Century and possibly the late 17th century the gentry and the ruling classes sat down to a meal that could have had anything up to 12 courses and apart from their hands probably only had one knife and fork per person. To save soiling the table and tablecloth – (if there was one,) - the utensils had to be put down onto something that kept them off the surface. It was probably initially just a piece of wood in the times of Henry the Eighth but from the eighteenth century we know that some enterprising persons started to design what we now consider proper knife rests in pairs, sets of 4,6,12 and possibly more.

Each little dog 2.5" or 6.5cm long and about 1.25" or 3.5cm high. The complete collection of sixteen weighs 856 grammes.