This linkspage shows the range of materials, decorations, and styles found in pre-medieval, medieval, and Renaissance spoons; I've attempted to classify them, so that it is easier to see where different types of spoons were found, when they were made, what materials they were made from, etc.
See the feastgear linkspages for more spoons in illustrations and paintings of medieval and Renaissance people eating; those links will clarify which sorts of people might have used the different types of spoons illustrated here.
Many more English spoons can be found through the Portable Antiquities Scheme's Finds Database.
LATE ROMAN SPOONS
BYZANTINE SPOONS
ACORN-KNOP SPOONS
- Silver spoon, possibly British, 12th century
- Silver spoon found in East Lothian, late 13th century
- Silver parcel-gilt acorn-knop spoon, from the Rouen treasure, early 14th century
- An English pewter acorn-style knop spoon, 14th century
- An English pewter acorn-knop spoon, 14th century
- A spoon, 14th-15th century
- Silver acorn-knop spoon, England, late 14th-early 15th century
- A pewter acorn-knop spoon, early 16th century, probably English
- Silver acorn-knop spoon, 16th century Germany
DIAMOND-POINT SPOONS
- Silver spoon from a grave in a Brechin churchyard, early 14th century
- British Museum 1965,0705.1, 1965,0705.2, 1965,0705.3, 1965,0705.4, 1965,0705.5, silver diamond-point spoons found in Worcestershire, 14th century
- An English pewter diamond-point spoon, 15th century
- Parcel-gilt silver diamond-point spoon, London, c. 1470-1478
ENAMELLED SPOONS
APOSTLE SPOONS
- Bronze spoon with a cloaked figure holding a book and a pilgrim's staff (could be St. James the Less), 15th century
- Brass spoon, 15th century Germany
- Copper spoon, 16th century Germany
- Silver apostle spoon, London, 1504-1505
- Silver master spoon, London, 1514-1515
- Silver apostle spoon (St. Jude), London, 1522-1523
- Silver apostle spoon (St. James the Less), London, 1529-1530
- Set of silver "apostle" spoons, London, 1536-1537
- Silver apostle spoon (St. Thomas), London, 1545-1546
- Silver apostle spoon (St. Andrew), London, 1582-1583
- Silver apostle spoon (St. John), London, 1596-1597
- Silver apostle spoon (St. Peter), London, 1599-1600
- Silver apostle spoon (St. Bartholomew), London, 1622
- Silver apostle spoon (St. Paul), London, 1622
- Silver apostle spoon, London, c. 1622-1623
- Silver apostle spoon (St. James), London, 1634
SPOONS WITH OTHER HUMAN FIGURES (busts and monsters are in this category too)
- Silver spoon with a grotesque animal head, 13th century
- Silver spoon with a wildman-knop, Great Britain, 15th century
- An English pewter horned-headdress spoon, mid-15th century
- Copper spoon with a bust, France, 15th-16th century
- An English pewter alderman knop spoon, c. 1500
- Spoon with handle in the form of a satyr (in silver, gold, and ruby), and an agate bowl, Italy, 16th century
- Silver maidenhead spoon, London (?), c. 1570
SPOONS WITH ARMORIAL/HERALDIC DECORATIONS
WOODEN SPOONS
Because these spoons are rarer in archaelogical finds (due to the decay of wood over time), I’ve included some iconography that seems to depict wooden spoons.
- Spoon and another spoon made in Thebes, c. 580-640
- Yew spoon bowl with partial handle, found in York, dating to the 12th or 13th century
- Esau sells his birthright to Jacob, Concordantiae caritatis (Lilienfeld Stiftsbibliothek 151, fol. 33v), c. 1349-1351
- The Holy Family with Angels, 1410
- Works of Mercy: Feeding the Hungry, Leitbuch des Nürnberger Heiliggeistspitals (Nuremburg Stadtarchiv Hs 4. 2.), c. 1410-1420
- Detail from the Nativity by Konrad von Friesach, c. 1450-1460
- Detail from Works of Mercy: Feeding the Hungry, from an altarpiece at Trier, c. 1460-1470
- The Birth of St. Roche from the altarpiece of St. Lorenz in Nuremburg, c. 1475-1485
- Detail from the Birth of Mary in an altarpiece from Linz, 1481
- Detail from The Supper at Bethany from an altarpiece at Thal, 1498
- A wooden spoon-holder from Regensburg, 15th-16th century
- A wooden spoon with a carved handle from Regensburg, 15th-16th century
- The children of Mary Cleophas from an altarpiece at Innsbruck, c. 1500-1510
- Detail from St. Augustine and St. Gregory by Andre Haller, c. 1510-1515
- Gerard David's paintings of the Madonna and Child with the Milk Soup from c. 1515 (see detail) and c. 1520
- Wooden spoons (and pewter spoon) from the Mary Rose, 1545
- The Beaneater by Annibale Caracci, c. 1580-1590
WOODEN SPOONS WITH SILVER HANDLES (the spoon-bowls seem to be most frequently carved from boxwood)
- 15th century wood and silver spoon made in southern Germany, and another German 15th century silver and wooden spoon
- Silver and wooden spoon, 15th-16th century
- A spoon with an apostle, from Regensburg, c. 1500-1550
- Boxwood/silver spoon, 16th century southern Germany
- Burned wood/silver spoon, 16th century Germany
- Boxwood/silver spoon, 16th century southern Germany
- Boxwood/silver spoon, 16th century Germany
- Boxwood/silver/gilt spoon with a pomegranate knop, 16th century Germany (also here)
- A spoon with an apostle, c. 1590-1610
- A spoon, c. 1590-1610
- Mother-of-pearl spoon and fork made in India before 1596
- Christie's Sale 7920 / Lot 1079, two Swiss burr-maple and silver-mounted spoons, c. 1600
SEAL-TOP SPOONS
OTHER TYPES OF SPOONS
But lo, an horne spone that haue I here - And it will herbar fourty pese - Þis will I giffe you with gud chere, Slike novelte may noght disease. The York Cycle, Play 15, ll. 128-131
- Bone spoon from Shetland, c. 100 BC - 400 AD
- Bone spoon from an Ayrshire crannog, c. 0-300
- Bone spoon probably used for catching solids in wine, bronze spoon, and another bronze spoon from a Roman fort in Roxburghshire, c. 80-180
- Silver spoons from the Traprain hoard, c. 410-425
- Silver spoon from a hoard of Pictish metalwork, with a dog's head at the junction between the stem and the bowl, c. 750-825
- An English round bowl pewter spoon, 14th century
- A spoon from Seekirchen, 14th-15th century
- Travelling spoon with case made in England or Flanders in the 15th century; the spoon is silver gilt, inscribed "Ave Maria," and unscrews to fit in the case
- An English pewter gilded-wrythen-ball knop spoon, late 15th century
- Lead spoon found at Threave castle, 16th century
- Silver wrythen-knop spoon, London, 1515-1516
- Pewter spoon from the Mary Rose, 1545
- Parcel-gilt silver, 1545-1555 Regensburg
- Silver spoon with a disc-end inscribed with initials, made in Edinburgh c. 1579-1581
- Silver spoon with a disc-end inscribed with the owners' initials, made in Canongate (Edinburgh) in 1589
- Golden spoon with rubies, emeralds, and diamonds, India, late 16th-early 17th century
- Silver spoon, made in Augsburg in 1595
- A golden spoon with a coral handle, c. 1590-1610
- Silver-gilt spoon, Germany, c. 1600
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