All About Pocket Knives

16th-century extremely rare knives engraved with Musical Scores allowed the guests to sing at the end of the meal.
Photos by Johan Oosterman.
It turns out that Renaissance diners in Italy enjoyed a little music with their feasts. And they kept their musical scores recorded in an unexpected location—their knives. This means that aside from carving up meat, this cutlery helped provide the evening's entertainment.
These 16th-century knives are now scattered in museum collections around the world, including examples at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge England. Known as notation knives, Kirstin Kennedy, a curator at the Victoria & Albert Museum, notes that we can't be entirely certain how they were used, though the form gives us some ideas. That collection's example has a sharp edge, which would imply its use in cutting meat, yet its width suggests that it may have been used to present slices of meat to diners.
As for the engraving? Each side of the blade has musical notations, making the most of the space. And each knife represents one part for a singer. So, a complete set of knives actually come together to create a harmonious chorus. Fittingly, one side contains a statement of grace, and the other a benediction to be sung at the end of the meal. The grace reads: “The blessing of the table. May the three-in-one bless that which we are about to eat.” On the opposite side of the blade, the benediction states: “The saying of grace. We give thanks to you God for your generosity.”

What a great post. Thanks Old Folder.
Very interesting knives and story.

Wow OC, such never crossed my mind or had I ever heard of such a thing. Amazing. Thanks.

Thanks OC for sharing!!

Thanks for posting these photos, Dan. I had never known that such knives existed.

I learned something new today! Thanks for posting those.
I have posted this one before but it is in the same vein:a 17th century Persian jambiya with a message on the tang inlaid in Arabic in gold:"There is no god but the one god Allah and I am his prophet" ;the first sentence of the Koran. There is some other cyphers carved into the handle but the appraiser couldn't translate them.

Dan, those are SPECTACULAR!! K7K, I think your knife is much newer, like 1800s. Most of the pre-1800 Arabic knives of that quality I have seen are wootz damascus but perhaps I just can't see the wootz pattern in your photo. Superb knife though, is the handle walrus ivory?

Gunsil wrote:Dan, those are SPECTACULAR!! K7K, I think your knife is much newer, like 1800s. Most of the pre-1800 Arabic knives of that quality I have seen are wootz damascus but perhaps I just can't see the wootz pattern in your photo. Superb knife though, is the handle walrus ivory?

Yes the blade has a very nice pattern to it.I'll try and post a close up of the pattern. I had the knife appraised(actually all I wanted to know is what it said on the blade and handle)by a professor of Egyptian studies at Northeastern University some thirty years ago and he estimated it to have been made somewhere between 1630 and 1680. I don't know how he arrived at that date.He also wanted to buy it from me for a very large amount of money which I declined. It was given to me as a gift by a good friend and I have a policy of not selling gifts EVER!
There is also a small companion dagger(looks like a sharpened table knife)in the sheath.The sheath is made of wood and covered with what looks like lizard skin and has some designs on one side.The tip of the sheath is copper and plated with silver.
This threw me off a bit because I thought plating was a relatively new procedure until someone told me it goes back many years.
Here are some more pictures.

K7K, that is definitely amazing. Everything about it is beautiful. Even the little dagger. Did I miss what the handles are? Did they come from an elephant?