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Lot Essay
The apostle spoon represents the next development in spoons with a finial cast as a full figure, the earliest example of this form being the Wodewose spoons, like the Benson Wodewose (lot 320). Traditionally they would have been made in groups of twelve, one to represent each apostle, to which the master was added to make a set of thirteen, however, the very small number of complete sets to have survived suggest that they were as likely to have been intended to be given as gifts either individually or in pairs.
While Commander and Mrs How suggest that it possible that apostle spoons were made as early as the fourteen century, the earliest examples which can be definitely dated are a number of examples, presumably once part of a set, which have London hallmarks for 1490, a set to which lot 328 belongs. The earliest examples which can be dated by stylistic means are generally considered to be the so called Beaufort set which are dated by How as circa 1450-1478 and which are in the collection of Christ's College, Cambridge.
While the exact origin of the present spoon is unknown one likely candidate is Bristol, a town which was appointed to have a 'touch', (a place where silver could be tested) by 1423. While there is no record of an assay office ever being set up in Bristol there were certainly a number of goldsmiths working there by the beginning of the 15th century. The suggestion that the five pointed mullet mark which appears on the present spoon is a mark for Bristol is based on the mark being found on other spoons in conjunction with marks which are connected with the Bristol mint. The appearance of this mark with differing letters, an 'H' in the case of the present spoon, led Commander and Mrs How to suggest that the letter is possibly an early form of date letter, though no documentary evidence to prove this theory has even been discovered.
While Commander and Mrs How suggest that it possible that apostle spoons were made as early as the fourteen century, the earliest examples which can be definitely dated are a number of examples, presumably once part of a set, which have London hallmarks for 1490, a set to which lot 328 belongs. The earliest examples which can be dated by stylistic means are generally considered to be the so called Beaufort set which are dated by How as circa 1450-1478 and which are in the collection of Christ's College, Cambridge.
While the exact origin of the present spoon is unknown one likely candidate is Bristol, a town which was appointed to have a 'touch', (a place where silver could be tested) by 1423. While there is no record of an assay office ever being set up in Bristol there were certainly a number of goldsmiths working there by the beginning of the 15th century. The suggestion that the five pointed mullet mark which appears on the present spoon is a mark for Bristol is based on the mark being found on other spoons in conjunction with marks which are connected with the Bristol mint. The appearance of this mark with differing letters, an 'H' in the case of the present spoon, led Commander and Mrs How to suggest that the letter is possibly an early form of date letter, though no documentary evidence to prove this theory has even been discovered.