Tablespoon

Date1698-1699

Artist/Maker John Chartier

MediumSilver (Sterling)

DimensionsOL: 7 15/16" OW(BOWL): 1 21/32"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1971-248

DescriptionSilver spoon with shield top style. The handle of the spoon is a dog-nose type with engraving covering 3/4ths of the top surface of the handle. On the underside of the handle are full London hallmarks with a maker's mark, "CH", with a fleur-de-lis above within a conforming surround.Label TextThis magnificent spoon of fine proportions and weight is enriched with superlative engraving of an individual character. This dense engraving of foliated scrolls and flowers is in the elegant French manner, associated in England with the work of Simon Gribelin. It exhibits unusual freedom and an embryonic rococo element in the ruffling of some of the scrolls. Not surprisingly, the spoon bears the mark of John Chartier, a notable Huguenot maker.

Shield-end (wavy-end, dog-nose) spoons occupy an intermediate position between trifid and Hanoverian spoons. In comparison with the trifid, this spoon, like developed examples of its type, has a more languid rhythm to the unbroken contour of its outline, due to the elimination of the clefts and ears of the trifid handle end, the gentler curve of the handle sides, the rounding of the handle edges and shank, and the flaring of the shank to receive the softened shoulders of the longer, narrower bowl. The extremely long plain rattail on the underside of the bowl is consistent with the bowl's attenuation.
Inscription(s)Owner's crest engraved on underside of handle at end.Mark(s)Maker's mark "CH" with fleur-de-lis above with in a conforming surround (Grimwade 320) and full London hallmarks on underside of handle.ProvenanceVendor: How (of Edinburgh), London