6 “kozuka” Dessert Knives, Sterling Silver And Metal , Japan And Paris Circa 1870

Extremely rare series of six Japanese style dessert knives with a sterling silver blade . They date from the second part of the nineteenth century and are very representative of Japanese style objects made both in Japan and in France and which were sold to customers fond of this great Japanese fashion which inspired many interiors and living rooms of Japanese taste in the second half of the Nineteenth Century . Many of them can still be admired today. These six knives are part of this Japanese taste with their Japanese handles mounted with silver blades by a Parisian goldsmith who took extreme care to fix them with three pins each time of a different color of metal (yellow gold, silver white, red copper). These are "Kozuka" handles . Kozuka refers specifically to the handle of a small Japanese knife called a kogatana, but among collectors the entire knife is often called a kozuka. It was designed to fit alongside the scabbards of Japanese swords, such as those of the katana, wakizashi and tanto. A kozuka was often elaborate and of fine craftsmanship, decorated with carvings, inlays and colored metals. Those made from a copper-gold alloy (shakudo) with gold elements were popular among samurai and often worn on formal occasions.