Two-Pronged Fork with a Horse Head
Unknown · Sasanian, fifth to seventh century AD
A slender silver fork just under twenty-four centimetres long ends in two sharp prongs at one end and a tiny horse's head at the other. The handle is twisted into a spiral along its whole length so that it sits comfortably in the fingers, and the little horse, with its pricked ears and cropped mane, is finished with the same care as a piece of jewellery. Look at how the neck of the horse flows into the twist of the handle without a visible join.
The fork was found at Susa, in south-western Iran, and belongs to the Sasanian period between the fifth and seventh centuries of our era. Diners in antiquity generally used knives, spoons and their hands, so a fork was a luxury that spoke of court manners rather than everyday eating; it may have served to lift meat from a dish rather than to carry food to the mouth. It came to the Louvre through the sharing of finds from the French excavations at Susa, along with the fragmentary silver cup displayed nearby.
Did You Know? Forks were almost unknown at ancient tables, which makes this Sasanian example one of the oldest surviving pieces of its kind.
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