Object Number 1960.0792

Object Name

Fork (Cooking fork)

Category

Metals

Credit Line/Donor

Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont

Creator (Role)

Martin Eisenhauer (Probable maker)
1754-1835

Place of Origin

Hereford Township, Berks, Pennsylvania, Mid-Atlantic, United States, North America

Date

1776

Mark or Signature or Inscription or Label

1. Mark; Handle, surface at center; "M:EISENHAUER", stamped incuse with brass inlay.
2. Mark; Handle, underside at center; "1776", stamped incuse with brass inlay.

Materials

Iron; Brass

Techniques

Wrought

Dimensions (inches)

15.2 (L) , 1.7 (W)

Dimensions (centimeters)

38.5 (L) , 4.4 (W)

Object Description

Web - 10/19/2012

A long-handled cooking fork, sometimes called a flesh fork because it was useful for meat dishes, was an indepsensible utensil for cooking at an open hearth or over coals. This example holds the surname of a German-immigrant blacksmithing family, Eisenhauer (translated, "Iron cutter"), who first settled in Tulpenhocken, Pennsylvania in the 1740s. The fork may have been made by an Eisenhauer family blacksmith (likely Martin) for another family member with a first name beginnign with "M" or it was the property of the smith himself. The maker further enlivened this refined handle's surface with a perimeter of dots and a central reflexive tree-like ornament all called out with golden color brass inlay. The same technique outlines the date "1776" on the underside.

Bibliography and Bibliographic Notes

[Book] Fennimore, Donald L. 2004 Iron at Winterthur.
• Published: pp. 264-265, cat. no. 129b.
[Book] Ames, Kenneth L. 1977 Beyond Necessity: Art in the Folk Tradition.
• Published on p. 78, fig.90; p.115, cat. no. 86.
[Book] Hutchins, Catherine E., et al. 1983 Arts of the Pennsylvania Germans.
• Published: fig. 204, p. 213.
[Book] Barons, Richard I. 1976 The American Hearth.
• Published: fig. 32.
[Article] Mangieri, Scott. 07//2008 "Decoration for the Everyday: Early American Iron Cooking Utensils,". Antiques and Fine Art. 138-139.
• Published: fig. 3, p. 139.