Fork (Cooking fork)

Description

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.