Trencher with quotation from The Governance of Virtue (1566) (one of a set)

British

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 509

At the end of a banquet it was customary to serve fruit or sweetmeats on the undecorated side of wood trenchers such as these. Afterwards, they were turned over and the moralizing quotations from the Bible read aloud to the assembled company.


The gold effects were achieved with a yellow varnish over a layer of silver-leaf.

Trencher with quotation from The Governance of Virtue (1566) (one of a set), Sycamore wood, painted and gilded, British

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