Knife with Ornamental Handle, from the Way to Chirurgerie 1850 - 1900

Curator: We're looking at a pencil sketch, "Knife with Ornamental Handle, from the Way to Chirurgerie," dating roughly from 1850 to 1900. It is currently held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Editor: Huh. At first glance, it’s almost unsettling. Like finding anatomical sketches mixed with jewellery design—a gorgeous, ornate danger. Curator: Exactly! The drawing depicts a surgical knife with an elaborate handle. If we observe the context around its usage, we can contextualize surgery's move from trades, in the class of barbers, toward its status today. Editor: The notes scrawled around the knife's rendering – snippets of text suggesting the handle also serves as a sheath? So fascinating! Is this medical instrument meets high fashion meets medieval weapon? It sparks so much more wonder about the social attitudes towards early surgery... Did they WANT to be cutting open flesh with pretty things? It all sounds quite terrifying! Curator: Absolutely. These drawings weren't mass-produced. Consider the period –mid-19th century onwards– when modern medicine began consolidating and formalizing its body of knowledge, leading surgeons needing educational resources in great supply. Prints from drawings were a common way of communicating these medical concepts to wider audiences of interested trainees and public servants. Editor: It does give off the vibe of someone diligently copying something. The different views help with understanding form. A manual, almost. I wonder how many apprentice doctors doodled their own versions of this between procedures. Curator: It's a snapshot of that transition of medicine as profession. Editor: A fancy knife is perhaps less about a medical shift, and more a signal towards professional standing. All very human and so understandable. I keep imagining owning it and just... not wanting it near my body! But admiring the craftsmanship from afar! Curator: We see then the intersection of medicine and its changing relationship to society. Editor: So much meaning contained in a simple sketch... or, perhaps, not so simple after all.