Spoon, cowrie shell and gilded silver, Austria, ca. 1550

This cowrie shell spoon, with its gilded fitting adorned with a winged cherub on one side and a prominent coat of arms on the other gives a sense of the prestige associated with the ownership of such objects at the time. It was probably part of a larger set, and was no doubt intended for use as well as to be admired.

A number of examples of shells mounted as spoons exist in European museum collections; moreover, this way of setting two different pieces from a shell in way is not unique. This striking similarity between the two spoons suggests that such items were mounted up speculatively by goldsmiths and subsequently personalised for customers by the addition of engraved initials and coats of arms. Two pieces of cowrie shell (cypraea tigris, or tiger cowrie) joined by a gilded silver fitting. A gilded silver plaque with a coat of arms, engraved and filled with niello (a black substance) fixed to the fitting on the back of the spoon. The initials A.V. engraved on the plaque above the coat of arms. A cherub's head, flanked with wings, cast and applied to the fitting above the bowl.