Roman Spoon, Silver

Roman spoons are divided in the two groups of ligulae and cochlearia. The first are recognizable with a large oval spoon bowl and a blunted grip. Most likely they were used to perpare and serve the dishes. The smaller cochlearia had a smaller spoon bowl and a thin, pointed grip, an ancient substitute of the modern fork. They were used as the common tablespoons.

Our cochlear is a really stunning reconstruction of an extraordinary fragment which was placed to our proposal by a private collector (pic 2). Remarkable is the design of the grip, comprising a lion-head on a curved animal leg, standing on a griffin´s head which carries the spoon bowl. The lionheads and -legs were often used as decorations of furnitures. Handcrafted from massive 835 silver, length ca. 14,5 cm.