The same workshop, the same hand?

Abstract

The article is devoted to two anthropomorphic mediaeval knife handles, showing two figures: a man with a hawk on his left arm and an accompanying woman. One of them was found in Roskilde; the origin of the other, currently exhibited in New York, is unknown. The two handles are identical in form and all the carving details, the most signifi cant of which are the features of the man. The only differences are found in the representation of the hawks’ feathers. These characteristics motivate the hypothesis that the two handles were carved not only in one workshop, but also by the same craftsman.