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拍品專文
Slip Top-Spoons
Spoons with a sloping terminal are another example of spoons in an international style (see acorn-knop spoons lots 435 and 436), with known examples of French and English origin. A common misconception is that slip-top spoons were made by cutting the finial off an apostle spoon. Commander and Mrs How note that the appearance of the marks spread out along the stem, as in the present pair, proves that the spoons were indeed made in the present form (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, 1952, vol. I, p. 277).
As with other spoons of international style, the design of the finial of slip-tops spoons cannot be used to date the spoons stylistically. Thus hallmarked examples like the present pair and another marked for 1487, believed to be the earliest known fully hallmarked English example (How, op. cit., pp. 84-85, pl. 4), are crucial for dating unmarked types.
Spoons with a sloping terminal are another example of spoons in an international style (see acorn-knop spoons lots 435 and 436), with known examples of French and English origin. A common misconception is that slip-top spoons were made by cutting the finial off an apostle spoon. Commander and Mrs How note that the appearance of the marks spread out along the stem, as in the present pair, proves that the spoons were indeed made in the present form (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, 1952, vol. I, p. 277).
As with other spoons of international style, the design of the finial of slip-tops spoons cannot be used to date the spoons stylistically. Thus hallmarked examples like the present pair and another marked for 1487, believed to be the earliest known fully hallmarked English example (How, op. cit., pp. 84-85, pl. 4), are crucial for dating unmarked types.