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Lot Essay
Apostle Spoons
The apostle spoon is an example of the next development in pre-Restoration spoons with the appearance of a finial cast as a full figure. The earliest examples of this form are the Wodewose spoons, with finials cast with a wild man figure, which appear in the 13th and 14th centuries (The Benson Collection, Christie's, London, 4 June 2013, lot 320, £85,875).
Spoons with cast apostle finials were probably made as early as the 14th century, though 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 (The Benson Collection, op. cit., lot 329, £59,475). 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, given the relatively small number of complete sets to have survived it is perhaps as likely that they were intended to be given as gifts, either individually or in pairs.
Comparisons have been drawn between the finial on the present spoon, representing St. John, and the cast figure of St. John on a ceremonial instrument case, dated circa 1500, in the collection of the Worshipful Company of Barber Surgeons. Commander and Mrs How note that the cast figures on the case could easily be used as the finials on spoons (Commander G. E. P. How and J. P. How, English and Scottish Silver Spoons, Mediaeval to Late Stuart and Pre-Elizabethan Hallmarks on English Plate, London, 1953, vol. II, p. 36).
The apostle spoon is an example of the next development in pre-Restoration spoons with the appearance of a finial cast as a full figure. The earliest examples of this form are the Wodewose spoons, with finials cast with a wild man figure, which appear in the 13th and 14th centuries (The Benson Collection, Christie's, London, 4 June 2013, lot 320, £85,875).
Spoons with cast apostle finials were probably made as early as the 14th century, though 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 (The Benson Collection, op. cit., lot 329, £59,475). 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, given the relatively small number of complete sets to have survived it is perhaps as likely that they were intended to be given as gifts, either individually or in pairs.
Comparisons have been drawn between the finial on the present spoon, representing St. John, and the cast figure of St. John on a ceremonial instrument case, dated circa 1500, in the collection of the Worshipful Company of Barber Surgeons. Commander and Mrs How note that the cast figures on the case could easily be used as the finials on spoons (Commander G. E. P. How and J. P. How, English and Scottish Silver Spoons, Mediaeval to Late Stuart and Pre-Elizabethan Hallmarks on English Plate, London, 1953, vol. II, p. 36).