Stephane Prudhomme Knife Rests
1930 Complete set of twelve silver plated kniferests (portes couteaux) by Stephane Prudhomme illustrating favorite fables. Apparently in the original box. $154.71 from brocs_en_stock on Ebay, Jan., '18.
Each knife rest is a panel 3¼" wide and 1" high supported by triangles on the edges, whose other two sides are ¾" and 11/16". A sale on the internet was helpful for identifying this set as coming from Prudhomme. The small square towards the left edge in the top frame presents Prudhomme's mark, S and P around a caduceus. It took a high-resolution scan to produce the picture below of that mark. The twelve fables presented include expected standards like TMCM, CJ, GA, FS, WL, 2P, "The Hares and the Frogs," and "The Heron." There is also Florian's "The Monkey and the Magic Lantern. Three others are harder, at least for me, to identify. Is one "The Fox and the Cat"? What is the small object in their image? In another, two fowl seem to be arguing over a snail. In a final knife-rest there are three birds: might they be the mother lark and her young?
