POST MEDIEVAL SPOON

1650

Post-medieval silver spoon of trifid form. The bowl is oval and concave and the stem is flat and rectangular in cross section. At the point that the stem meets the bowl a 'rats tail' develops and is two thirds of the bowl in length. Using 'scratch engraving' a foliate design has been engraved on either side of the rats tail, there is one petal/leaf around the end of the rats tail and a further four down the sides of the rats tails, two on each side. The stem widens after the half way point and ends in three points. Both sides of the stem are decorated with a foliate design within a border with a larger flower at the terminal end. A possible maker's mark 'J' can be seen on the reverse of the spoon handle.A similar example can be found from the Chichester area, West Sussex (2012 T901, PAS ID: SUSS-69C4A3).The trifid spoon is the earliest spoon of modern from (Snodin, p.29-31). This is a 'lace-back' example (Snodin, p.31), so named because of the lace like scrolling foliage engraved on the back of the bowl. Trifid spoons became popular in the 1670's possibly following the French examples imported during the time of the restoration and the style lasted up until around 1700.