If a householder owned a single piece of silver in medieval Exeter, it would likely be a spoon. Richard Oack, a farmer, possessed two, while Edward Lymett, a merchant, claimed thirty-two. Often given as a christening present, spoons were cherished items passed down in a family for generations.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Spoon
Date:late 15th century
Culture:British
Medium:Silver
Dimensions:Overall L: 6 in. (15.2 cm)
Classification:Metalwork-Silver
Credit Line:The Cloisters Collection, 1955
Object Number:55.42.2
J.P. Benson ; G.E.P. How (1955) ]
New York. The Cloisters Museum & Gardens. "The Secular Spirit: Life and Art at the End of the Middle Ages," March 28–June 15, 1975.
New York. The Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Rich Man, Poor Man: Art, Class, and Commerce in a Late Medieval Town," March 6, 2023–February 4, 2024.
How G.E.P. English and Scottish Silver Spoons, Mediaeval to Late Stuart and Pre-Elizabethan Hall-Marks on English Plate. Vol. 1. London: The Curwen Press, Ltd., 1952. pp. 152–53.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "'Additions to the Collections,' Eighty-Fifth Annual Report of the Trustees for the Fiscal Year 1954-1955." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 14, no. 1 (Summer 1955). p. 14.
Husband, Timothy B., and Jane Hayward, ed. The Secular Spirit: Life and Art at the End of the Middle Ages. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975. no. 57a, p. 56.
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