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Set of seven pruning tools

1575–1600
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 544
Decorated with engraved natural motifs, including fruit and fish, precious tools such as these were meant for noble patrons for whom gardening had gradually become a suitable pastime. The set, comprising clippers, a saw, four knives, and a combination hammer-rasp-file-and-auger, would have been used for trimming branches and obtaining bud grafts.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Set of seven pruning tools
  • Date: 1575–1600
  • Culture: French, Moulins
  • Medium: Steel, partly gilded; mother-of-pearl
  • Dimensions: Overall (tool .1470): 3 5/16 × 5/8 × 12 in. (8.4 × 1.6 × 30.5 cm);
    Overall (knife .1471): 1 × 6 5/8 × 7 in. (2.5 × 16.8 × 17.8 cm);
    Overall (knife .1472): 1 1/4 × 1 × 12 in. (3.2 × 2.5 × 30.5 cm);
    Overall (saw .1473): 3 1/8 × 13 3/4 × 1 1/8 in. (7.9 × 34.9 × 2.9 cm)
    Overall (clippers .1474): 3 9/16 × 13 1/8 × 1 1/16 in. (9 × 33.3 × 2.7 cm);
    Overall (knife .1475): 2 7/8 × 1 3/8 × 12 3/4 in. (7.3 × 3.5 × 32.4 cm);
    Overall (knife .1476): 3 1/8 × 1 1/2 × 14 in. (7.9 × 3.8 × 35.6 cm)
  • Classification: Metalwork-Steel
  • Credit Line: Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964
  • Object Number: 64.101.1470–.1476
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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