Description : In the Middle Ages, each knife was a unique object, and its handle was decorated in order to emphasize its personal nature. This handle depicts an adolescent boy playing dice. The figure is sculpted in the round, and the smooth part of the handle forms its base. The figure is also slim, no doubt to create continuity with the iron blade, whose tapered end, or tang, was set into the handle. The boy is shown kneeling, his left knee on the ground. In his right hand, he appears to be holding a die that has since disappeared; two more dice are lying next to him. He is barefoot and bare-chested, clad only in a pair of breeches. His hair is coiled at his neck, a hairstyle that was commonly seen in the second half of the 13th century. The treatment of the eyes and the gentle modeling of the face are reminiscent of secular works produced in Parisian studios around 1300 or in the first few decades of the 14th century.