Miniature knifebox with cover 1685 - 1700

This miniature knife box with cover was made by George Manjoy, around the early 1700s, out of solid silver. The first thing you'll notice is the reflective surface of the silver, catching the light and highlighting the vertical fluting that runs around both the lid and the container. Silver, of course, has always been precious, so even a small object like this would have been a real luxury item, owned only by the wealthy. The form itself resembles a classical column, giving the object a sense of grandeur. But on closer inspection, one can see that the piece is quite roughly made. Silversmithing involved many processes, from smelting and refining the metal to hammering, soldering, and polishing. It was painstaking work, often divided among different workshops. As the demand for luxury goods increased, the pressure on silversmiths to produce more quickly would also rise. So, even as they maintained their extraordinary level of skill, the process of making was being influenced by early forms of capitalism. Looking closely, the seams are a little wonky, and the fluting is not perfectly even. These little details remind us of the human labor involved in its production.