Spoon

Date1690-1725

MediumPewter

DimensionsOL: 8 1/4"; W (bowl): 1 11/16"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1984-144

DescriptionSpoon with wavy end.
Label TextWavy-edged spoons introduce subtle refinements towards more modern spoon design. The trifid was still a somewhat awkward assemblage of separate parts with strange clefts to the handle end, a flatness to the handle face, and an explicit separation between handle and bowl. With the wavy-end spoon, there is a softer, more continuous contour to the handle end with a handle shank of rounded face and sides of D-shaped cross-section, with a softened and flared transition between the two, to a bowl of elongated oval form that respects a harmonious adjustment of elements. Also, while the trifid spoon, like the contemporary cane-back chair, has a two-dimensional quality with the preferred view that of the front or facade, the wavy-end spoon is more three-dimensional and unified as an object.

Pewter wavy-end spoons, like those in silver, make their appearance in the 1690s, and they continue to be made well after the introduction of the Hanoverian type in the 1720s.

InscribedOwners' initials "B/TD" stamped on underside of handle.
MarkingsPossible touch mark with beaded border between quality mark and stamped owners' initials on underside of handle. Secondary mark a quality "X" stamped on underside of handle. Indistinct pseudo hallmarks (1) initialed mark incorporating a "W," (2) apparent crescent, (3) possible lion rampant, and (4) pinwheel or flowerlike device, all on underside of handle.
ProvenanceVendor: Robin Bellamy Antiques, Witney, Oxfordshire.