Mary C. Knight
One of Boston's leading Arts & Crafts centers was The Handicraft Shop, which employed such notable metalsmiths as Frans Gyllenberg, Seth Ek, George Gebelein , C. G. Forssen, Karl Leinonen, Rebecca Cauman, Mary Winlock, Sybil Foster, Alfred Swanson, and Mary Catherine Knight, who was initially hired by the Shop's founder to supervise the operation.
The Shop opened in 1901 to produce objects made of wood, leather, and metal. By 1906, when the set below was made, the Shop was working exclusively in metal. Interestingly, the delicate tooling on this set was done by Mary Knight using leathercraft punches.
Metalsmiths at the Shop seemed to work interchangeably at times. Knight designed many pieces that were executed by others. Some items (like the spoon below) bear just the Handicraft Shop anvil mark, but the bowl and underplate carry the Knight stamp -- a knight in armor mounted on a horse, with the letter K.
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Knight mark with date:
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Knight mark, no date:
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Handicraft Shop mark:
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Unfortunately, on many Handicraft Shop pieces that are now nearly a century old, much of the enamel has chipped away. The enamel on this set is almost completely intact.
Mary Catherine Knight set, sauce or mayonnaise, three pieces consisting of bowl, underplate, and spoon. All have blue multi-color enamel pattern of grapes and chased vines. Enamel is over repousse work on bottom of bowl. Bowl and underplate are monogrammed with an F. Spoon is monogrammed Frp on bottom of bowl. Bowl and underplate have small ringed feet. Bowl: 4-1/2" W and 1-13/16" H. Underplate: 6" W and 5/8" H. Spoon: 5-1/2" L and 1-1/2" W .
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Mary Catherine Knight plate, round, enameled, with chased decoration of flowers and vines around the raised rim and in a central petal-like decoration, with green and pale yellow enamel and engraved EGW monogram in script. Applied wire to rim. 7-9/16" W. Marked: STERLING / Knight mark] / 1906
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Detail from above EGW plate showing chasing and enamel
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Detail from above EGW plate showing chasing, enamel, and engraving
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Mary Catherine Knight plate, round, enameled, on small ring foot, with chased decoration or grapes and leaves and stylized vines around the upturned edge. Engraved FOH monogram in script at concave center. 5-7/16" W and 5/8" H. Marked: STERLING / Knight mark]
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Detail from above FOH plate showing chasing and enamel
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Mary Catherine Knight plate, low, round, enameled, flat bottom, with chased floral and abstract semi-circular decoration of blue and cream-colored enamel around wide flat raised edge. Heavy and in very good shape. Enamel is in excellent condition. 7-1/4" W. Marked: STERLING [Handicraft Shop HS anvil mark] 1905
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Detail from above plate showing chasing and enamel
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Mary Catherine Knight bowl, low, round, enameled, on flat foot, with chased decoration of intertwined vines and teal enameled flowers with cream-colored centers around the edge, and a smaller ring of these around the bottom. Applied thick wire to rim. Heavy and in excellent shape. Enamel is in excellent condition. 7-5/8" round and 3/4" H. Marked: STERLING / [Knight mark]
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Detail from above bowl showing chasing and enamel
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Mary Catherine Knight spoon with round bowl, rounded end, enamel pattern of grapes and chased vines. 6-3/16" L and 1-9/16" W. Marked: STERLING [Handicraft Shop HS anvil mark] 1907