Spoons from Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and Renaissance

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 to see 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.

• Eight silver spoons and silver ladles from the Mildenhall Treasure, 4th century Roman Britain
• Long spoons and large spoons, and gilded spoons from the Thetford Treasure, 4th century Roman Britain
• Gilded silver spoons from the Hoxne hoard, 5th century

• The Lampascus spoons with mottos, Byzantine, 6th century
• Silver Byzantine spoons with animals on the bowls, from the first Cyprus treasure, c. 600
• The spoon of the Prittlewell Prince, 7th century
• Early 7th century Byzantine spoons from the Sutton Hoo ship burial

• Silver spoon found in East Lothian, late 13th century
• Silver parcel-gilt acorn-knop spoon, from the Rouen treasure, early 14th century (V&A 110-1865)
• A spoon, 14th-15th century
• Silver acorn-knop spoon, England, late 14th-early 15th century
• Silver acorn-knop spoon, 16th century Germany

• Silver spoon from a grave in a Brechin churchyard, early 14th century
• Five silver diamond-point spoons
found in Worcestershire, 14th century
• Parcel-gilt silver diamond-point spoon, London, c. 1470-1478
• Diamond-point spoon, London, 1493-1494 (V&A 1947-1900)

• Silver-gilt spoon with enamelled floral motifs, Burgundy, c. 1400-1450
• Enamelled and gilt silver spoon with a fox and geese, southern Netherlands, c. 1430
• Enamelled silver spoon, Netherlands (?), mid-15th century (V&A C.2-1935)
• Enamelled silver spoon, late 15th century (V&A 1392-1888)

• Bronze spoon with a cloaked figure holding a book and a pilgrim's staff (could be St. James the Less), 15th century (also here)
• 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 spoon with a grotesque animal head, 13th century
• Silver spoon with a wildman-knop, Great Britain, 15th century (V&A M.65-1921)
• Two copper spoons, France, 15th-16th century
• Copper spoon with a bust, France, 15th-16th century
• Spoon with a golden bust and a transparent stone bowl, Italy, 16th century
• 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

• Silver spoons from an armorial set (here and here) made in Leipzig, c. 1560-1580
• Silver spoons made in Franconia, 1560-1570 (also here)
• Silver-gilt spoon, Cologne, c. 1580
• Silver spoon, end of the 16th century
• Silver spoon with a lion sejant, London, 1585-1586
• Silver spoon with heraldic knop, 16th century (also here and here)

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.

• Wooden spoons from Viking-era York
• 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 (side)
• 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 spoon and pewter spoon from the Mary Rose, 1545
• The Beaneater by Annibale Caracci, c. 1580-1590

• 15th century wood and silver spoon made in southern Germany, and another German 15th century silver and wooden spoon
• Silver and wooden spoon (front, side, and back), 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

• The Cunningham seal-top, made in Edinburgh in 1573
• Seal-top spoon, Exeter, c. 1583-1590
• Silver-gilt seal-top spoon, London, 1607-1608
• Parcel-gilt silver seal-top spoon, London, 1616-1617

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
• Glass spoon, 1st-5th century
• Silver spoons from the Traprain hoard, c. 410-425
• Silver spoon with black inlay, England, 6th-7th century
• 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
• 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
• Silver spoon with lapis lazuli, c. 1480-1500
• Silver spoons, 15th-16th century
• Lead spoon found at Threave castle, 16th century
• Silver and porphyry spoon made in Italy in the 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 (V&A IM.173-1910)
• A golden spoon with a coral handle, c. 1590-1610
• Silver-gilt spoon, Germany, c. 1600