Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
The bowl of this spoon is circular except for a slightly pointed tip at the end opposite the handle. The handle, which is rectangular in section, is undecorated except for a small pyramidal finial (1).
It is difficult to date this type of spoon closely. Examples have been published and dated to the Roman period generally (2), although others have been dated to the post-medieval period (3).
NOTES:
1. For similarly shaped spoon bowls see, G. Plough et al, Les petits objets médiévaux sauf les verreries et poteries, Hama: Fouilles et recherches, 1931-1938, 4.3 (Copenhagen, 1969) 67, fig. 26.6; and M. C. Ross, Catalogue of the Byzantine and Early Mediaeval Antiquities in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection 1: Metalwork, Ceramics, Glass, Glyptics Painting (Washington, DC) 2-3, no. 2, pl. 16.
2. See G. Zampieri and B. Lavarone, eds., Bronzi antichi del Museo Archaeologico di Padova, exh. cat., Museo Archeologico Padova (Rome, 2000) 198-201, nos. 397.a-s, 398.a-p, and 400.a-c. See also the range of Roman spoons in M. Garsson, ed., Une histoire d’alliage: Les bronzes antiques des réserves du Musée d’Archéologie Méditerranéenne, exh. cat. (Marseille, 2004) 42, nos. 60-65.
3. See examples recorded by Britain’s Portable Antiquities Scheme, such as nos. SOM-50DA73 and LANCUM-5C95F5, which are dated to the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries CE; and Zampieri and Lavarone 2000 (supra 2) 203, nos. 405.a-c.
David Smart and Lisa M. Anderson
