Wedding cutlery with case in the form of a fish French, ca 1550 Bone, engraved and gilt steel; case: leather, paper, wood core Height of case 20.5 cm Published in: Laue, G.: Precious cutlery for European Kunstkammer, Munich 2010, pp. 132-133, pp. 218-219, Cat. No. 64 The cutlery discussed here, which is complete, represents an extremely rare testimonial to court table culture ca 1550: a total of six knives with figurative ivory handles have survived in the case, which was conceived to stand on the table as a knife-box. When closed, the case is recognisably designed in the form of a fish. The patterns stamped in the leather simulate scales, configuring eyes, mouth and tail while two pieces of leather attached to the sides represent fins. The case opens to reveal the magnificence of this set of cutlery: the knife handles are figures of ivory and bone carved fully in the round. Four of the six knives boast a man and a woman seated on a bench and embracing. The handle of the fifth knife portrays a fashionably dressed lady, her hands crossed. Her opposite number on the sixth knife is a nobleman wearing a hat and holding a covered cup in his hand. Wine vessels often symbolically signified friendship and domesticity in the Early Modern Age. The iconography specific to this cutlery indicates that this was a wedding present. In the 16th century, wedding cutlery sets usually consisted solely of knives. The wedding set discussed here with its six knives in a case is certain to have been a sumptuously showy object owned and used at table by a household of above average wealth.