IV.—The Spoon and its history; its form, material, and development, more particularly in England

C.J. Jackson Esq.

doi:10.1017/S0261340900011231

IV.—The Spoon and its history; its form, material, and development, more particularly in England

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 January 2012

C.J. Jackson Esq.

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There can be little doubt that the spoon which now performs such an indispensable part in our domestic economy may lay claim to descent from a very high antiquity. Certainly as soon as the habit of eating pottage, in a manner such as we should consider decent, had been acquired there must have been spoons of some kind in use.

Type: Research Article
Information: Archaeologia , Volume 53 , Issue 1 , 1892 , pp. 107 - 146

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900011231 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1892

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^{page 107 note a} The words κοχλιάριον, and cochleare, seem to suggest a shell as the common spoon of the ancient inhabitants of Southern Europe. Spoons formed of shells mounted with gold and silver are mentioned in Henry VIII.'s jewel-book (vide post). The drinking of whiskey out of shells is a well-remembered custom of the Scotch Highlanders, and even now it is no uncommon thing in remote country places to find a shell doing duty for a spoon in the tea-caddy, the sugar-bowl, and the meal-bag.

^{page 107 note b} Exodus, xxv. 29.; Numbers, vii. 84, 86.

^{page 108 note a} The crux ansata is the symbol of Isis, Queen of Heaven, the virgin wife of Osiris, who was said to have given birth to their son Horus while they were yet both unborn; a fable having reference to the union of the active and passive powers of production, in the general concretion of substance, and causing the separation or delivery of the elements from each other. Vide Payne Knight, Language of Ancient Art and Mythology.) The symbol also of Divinity, Royalty, right to rule, which has come down to us in the form of the orb and cross, placed in the left hand of a monarch at his coronation, and represented upon his coins. It is also similarly depicted in painted and sculptured figures of Our Lord in Majesty or as an infant in the arms of the Blessed Virgin, and in this conventional form has been explained as “signifying that by the cross the world (represented by the ball) is overcome, and that the orb also signifies dominion, and the cross the faith of the king.” (Vide Pugin, Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament.) It would perhaps be more correct to say that this symbol has become one of the insignia of sovereignty and an emblem of divinity, because from a remote antiquity it indicated the supremacy and catholicity of a divine natural law.

^{page 109 note a} There is in the “Witt Collection” in the British Museum an oriental figure of brass, representing the same dark evil power in the act of attempting to destroy the last female of the human race, which act is however said to have resulted, not in the destruction of the woman, but in the continuation of her species.

^{page 110 note a} Nat. Hist., Lib. xxviii.

^{page 111 note a} Mentioned and illustrated in Dennis's Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria.

^{page 111 note b} Typical of the productive attribute resulting from skill and sagacity. Vide Ammianus Marcellinus, xvi. 5.

^{page 111 note c} Symbolical of Power and Life. See Payne Kniglit, Symbolical Language.

^{page 112 note a} Sacred to the Sun and herald of his coming. Pausanias, p. 444.

^{page 112 note b} Symbolical of the male generative attribute. Diodorus Siculns, i. 88.

^{page 112 note c} Sacred to Venus, the tortoise being an androgynous animal was chosen as a symbol of the double power. “The frequency with which it protrudes its head from the shell, thus changing its look of repose with the utmost rapidity to one of energy and action,” has also been suggested as a reason why it was held sacred to Venus, and why it is symbolic of regeneration, immortality, and the like. Vide Inman, Ancient Faiths embodied in Ancient Names, ii., p. 881.

The tortoise was considered also by the Chinese and Hindus symbolical of long life, renewed life, eternal life, for which reason in their mythology the world is represented as borne by an elephant, symbolical of strength, which in turn is supported by a tortoise. See Payne Knight, Symbolical Language.

^{page 112 note d} See Archaeologia, xv. 402, and xliii. 156–7.

^{page 114 note a} Hurae Ferales, pp. 184, 189.

^{page 115 note a} Archaeological Journal, xxvi. 35Google Scholaret seq.

^{page 115 note b} Ibid. 52 et seq.

^{page 115 note c} Jean Baptist Tavernier, who travelled through the East 250 years ago, says “the Persians eat with wooden spoons, the Chinese with chopsticks;” and Van Braam, the celebrated Dutch traveler of the eighteenth century, says, “such spoons as were used by the Chinese were of porcelain or earthenware.” This was so probably from early times (the Chinese being a very conservative people), it is unlikely therefore, having regard to the fragile nature of the material, that many very antique examples have escaped destruction. Possibly the traditions of the Chinese refer to spoons, as well as other objects of great antiquity, but how frail a staff tradition is to rely on, for anything approaching accuracy in regard to dates, has recently been made manifest in the case of the “Pudsey” spoon.

^{page 116 note a} Nenia Britannica, 6, 7. See also Akerman's Pagan Saxondom, 66.

^{page 117 note a} Vol. xxxvi., plate xvi., fig. 6.

^{page 117 note b} Vol. iv. 58.

^{page 117 note c} Vol. xxvii., Plate xxiv., p. 302.

^{page 117 note d} See also Archaeologia, xlv. 468Google Scholar.

^{page 118 note a} Vol. i.

^{page 118 note b} Proc. Soc. Antiq. 1st S. ii. 222, and Archaeologia, xxix. 265Google Scholar.

^{page 119 note a} Old English Plate, third ed. 197.

^{page 119 note b} Her Majesty having been graciously pleased to lend the spoon to the Society of Antiquaries on the occasion of the reading of this paper, it was by a general consensus of opinion attributed to the twelfth or beginning of the thirteenth century. Mr. W. H. St. John Hope suggests that it may have been made as a chalice spoon for use at the coronation of Henry III., for whom new regalia were made owing to the loss of the old crown jewels by King John when crossing the Wash.

^{page 120 note a} In regard to spoons of this metal there is an anecdote related of Shakspeare and Ben Jonson in Hone's Every Day Book, i. 179. Shakspeare, who is said to have been godfather to one of Jonson's children, on being asked after the christening why he appeared so melancholy, replied “Ben, I have been considering a great while what should be the fittest gift for me to bestow upon my godchild, and I have resolved it at last.” “I prithee what?” said Ben. “I' faith, Ben,” answered Shakspeare, “I'll give him a dozen good latten spoons, and thou shalt translate them.”

^{page 120 note b} 1259. Will of Martin de St. Cross, “xij coclearia argenti.” Wills and Inventories (Surtees Society 2), i. 9.

1296. “ix. coclearia auri, j cocleare argenti magnum pro coquina, pond, xxj s. ij d.” Wardrobe Accounts, 24 Edw. I.

^{page 120 note c} In 1552 Gabriel Lofthouse of Richmond, chaplain, bequeathed “a wod spone tipped with silver” Richmondshire Wills and Inventories, 144 n.

In Harrison's Description of England, written in 1586, prefixed to Hollingshead's Chronicle, “the exchange of wooden spoons into silver or tin in a good farmer's house,” is spoken of as “a sign of the prosperity of the times.”

Hone's Every Day Book (ii. 21) contains a reference to a curious tenure, whereby several townships adjoining Hutton Conyers Common, in Yorkshire, were entitled to a right of cstray or sheepwalk on the common. The lord of the manor held his court on the first day in the year, which the shepherd of each township was required to attend and do fealty by bringing a twopenny sweet cake and a wooden spoon. The bailiff of the manor provided furmety, cheese, and mustard; the furmety being in an earthen pot placed in a hole in the ground. Every shepherd was obliged to eat of the furmety as a proof of his loyalty to the lord, and for that purpose the spoon was carried to the court, for if any neglected to carry a spoon he was obliged to lay himself down on his belly and sup out of the pot, when, by way of sport, the bystanders dipped his face into the furmety.

^{page 120 note d} “Oh!” said Saneho Panza, “what spoons! what neat wooden spoons will I make when a shepherd.” See Don Quixote.

^{page 121 note a} See note ^b, on the preceding page.

^{page 121 note b} Archaeologia, x. 241–258Google Scholar. Reduced into the present standard we get an average price of 5s. 6d. of the present currency for each spoon, the weight of which was probably about an ounce.

^{page 121 note c} Test. Ebor. (Surtecs Soc. 4) i. 177.

^{page 122 note a} Test. Ebor. ii. 235.

^{page 122 note b} Wills and Inventories (Surtees Soc. 2), i. 91.

^{page 122 note c} Test. Ebor. ii. 74.

^{page 122 note d} Ibid. iv. 54.

^{page 122 note e} Cf. Laborde, Glossaire Francais du moyen age, 325; “Fretel, Fretelet et aussi Fruitelet, Bouton en forme de fruit, de fruitelet ou petit fruit, qui surmonte les couvercles, soit d'un vase, soit d'uno chasse, et qui se met à l'extrémité d'un couteau.”

^{page 122 note f} Test. Ebor. iii. 215.

^{page 122 note g} Journal of the British Archaeological Association, xxxiii. 321Google Scholar. According to the standard then in force (30 shillings per 12 ounces of sterling silver) the price would be equivalent to 6s. 11½d per ounce present currency.

^{page 122 note h} Test. Ebor. iv. 106Google Scholar.

^{page 122 note i} The spoon mentioned in Old English Plate as of 1493–4 is in reality marked with the stamps of the years 1533–4.

^{page 122 note j} Test. Ebor. iv. 142Google Scholar.

^{page 123 note a} Norfolk Archaeology, i. 121Google Scholar.

^{page 123 note b} Ibid. ix. 231.

^{page 123 note c} Clode's Memorials, 88.

^{page 123 note d} Fig. 33, which represents a spoon of the year 1488–9, affords a good example of a “writhen knop.” Cf. the inventory of Robert Morton, 1487, quoted on the preceding page, which also has: “ij dosen spones with wrethyn knoppes.”

^{page 123 note e} St. John Baptist was the patron saint of the fraternity, which fact accounts for the number of spoons it possesed knopped with the image of that saint.

^{page 123 note i} Norfolk Archaeology, i. 263Google Scholar.

^{page 124 note a} Archaeologia, xxxviii. 361Google Scholar.

^{page 124 note b} The sickle was a Hungerford badge.

^{page 124 note c} Archaeologia Cantiana, vii. 300, 306Google Scholar.

^{page 124 note d} Wills and Inventories (Surtees Soc. 2) i. 124Google Scholar.

^{page 124 note e} From Henry VIII's. Jewel Book, MS. XXIX. Soc. Antiq. Lond.

^{page 126 note a} In another list of king Henry VIII.'s gold spoons is found “a strayner of golde for orrenges waying x oz. d^u q^art’.” This could hardly be described as “a spoon.” The strained juice of oranges being at that time used as a beverage, the “strayner ” of king Henry VIII. was probably something like the double-handled strainer of the last century.

^{page 128 note a} Lancashire and Cheshire Wills (Chetliam Soc. xxxiii.), 108.

^{page 129 note a} Wills and Inventories (Surtees Soc. 2) i. 172, 173Google Scholar.

^{page 129 note b} Richmondshire Wills and Inventories (Surtees Soc. 26), 62, 128.

^{page 129 note c} Archaeologia, xl. 336, 337Google Scholar.

^{page 129 note d} Archaeologia, xxx. 27, 28Google Scholar.

^{page 130 note a} Old English Plate, 3rd ed.45Google Scholar PubMed.

^{page 131 note a} The will of Joan Wickliffe, 1562, mentions “on falden sylver spone.” Richmondshire Wills and Inventories, 157.

^{page 131 note b} See Proc. Soc. Antiq. Lond. 2nd S. xii. 308.

^{page 131 note c} This spoon was bought at Christie's in June 1889 by Messrs. Dobson and Son for £5 10s., and sold by them at a profit to Mr. Drane, to whom it now belongs.

^{page 132 note a} Proc. Soc. Antiq. Lond. 2nd S. viii. 405.

^{page 134 note a} See Henry VIII.'s Jewel Booh, and Richmond Wills, anno 1558.

^{page 135 note a} The custom, therefore, which obtained during the Tudor and Stuart periods for sponsors to present their god-children with spoons at their christenings may in view of this spoon be taken not to have been confined to apostle spoons, as some writers appear to suggest. Vide Brand, Popular Antiquities, i. 48, and Cripps, , Old English Plate, 3rd ed.193Google Scholar. It is in allusion to this custom that Shakspeare makes Henry VIII. say in reply to Cramer's declaration of his unworthiness of being sponsor to the young princess, “Come, come, my lord, you'd spare your spoons.” Henry VIII. v. 2.

^{page 135 note b} Lancashire and Cheshire Wills, 108.

^{page 136 note a} The new form of spoon occurs in a French silver-gilt spoon of about the end of the sixteenth century, illustrated in Shaw's Dresses and Decorations. A Dutch silver spoon with “Rowland Bowles de Burcombe, Wilts, 1623” engraved on the back of the bowl, belonging to Mr. Drane, is also of the new form. The stem of this spoon, which is triangular in form and apparently of cast metal, is surmounted by an arquebusier holding with his right hand the arquebus, his left hand resting on his hip. Hanging from a band on his chest is a supply of ammunition, and on his head is a morion, or helmet, of the period shortly antecedent to the engraved date. A German spoon of gilt metal in the British Museum, also of the early part of the seventeenth century, has a bowl of the new form, and the stem, which is round and ornamented with spiral fluting, is continued halfway down the back of the bowl in the form of a triangular tongue, somewhat like the rat-tail, as it appeared in its earliest form in English spoons.

^{page 144 note a} See Pepys' Diary, June 28, 1667.

^{page 145 note a} See Proc. Soc. Antiq. Lond. 2nd S. xii. 420, and Cripps, Old English Plate, 3rd cd. 293.

^{page 146 note a} The sign, of a tavern at Llandaff, Glamorganshire.

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IV.—The Spoon and its history; its form, material, and development, more particularly in England

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