Fork with Mule-Head Finial (375–425 CE): Art, History and Details

Fork with Mule-Head Finial (375–425 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This two-tined silver fork has a faceted handle that terminates in a mule head, perhaps a nod to its use for meat— whether cooking, serving, or eating. Forks from the premodern Mediterranean are rare, only known through a small number of surviving examples. Extant forks are relatively large and often bronze, making this silver example still more rare.

Object facts

• Title: Fork with Mule-Head Finial
• Date: 375–425 CE
• Culture: Italy, Roman
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: silver
• Dimensions: Overall: 0.5 x 20.4 cm (3/16 x 8 1/16 in.)
• Collection: GR - Roman
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1987.210

A detail from the museum

This fork served a utilitarian purpose as flatware in antiquity.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Quentin Alexander

Further reading listed by the museum

• Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1987.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 75, no. 2 (1988): 65, no. 7.
• Parani, Maria G. Byzantine cutlery: an overview. Athēnai: Christianikē Archaiologikē Hetaireia, 2010.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.