Silver Spoon
Probably once part of a set, this handsome spoon exemplifies the exceptional quality of the finest Early Byzantine silver. The spoon's bowl, outlined in an elegant wave pattern worked in niello, contains an inscription in Latin: puritas, or "purity." The tapering stem with traces of gilding displays in niello the name Matteus, possibly a reference to the evangelist Matthew. Small crosses beside the inscriptions and on the disk connecting the bowl and the stem place the work within a Christian context. Also on the disk is the monogram of the as-yet-identified owner. The use of Latin for the inscriptions associates the spoon with Roman imperial tradition, which was transferred to the new Rome, Constantinople, in the fourth century.
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