(c) 2016 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Chopsticks, Knife, and Scabbard

maker Unknown

Dateearly 19th century

Place MadeJapan, East Asia

MediumSilver with mother-of-pearl

Dimensions13.5 cm (5 5/16 in.)

ClassificationsTools and Equipment

Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Accession numberM18s21.a-d

eMuseum ID725554

EmbARK ObjectID14285

Previous Number554

TMS Source ID3094

Last Updated8/14/24

Status

Not on view

Web CommentaryWhen 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!"

BibliographyNotesGilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 147. (knife as Japanese, dated early 19th century)

ProvenanceNotesPurchased 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)