Skip to main content

Baluster Seal Top spoon: M.5-1950

An image of Seal top spoon
View image details Mirador icon - view image Mirador deep zoom IIIF Manifest IIIF Manifest Slow looking

Terms of use

The low-resolution images published on this Website are made available under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY-NC-ND). For more details: Fitzwilliam Terms of Use

This licence does not include any images of works that are still in copyright. Artistic copyright extends from the life of the artist to 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the artist died.

Download this image

For further information on use of images or to license a high resolution version, please contact our image library who can discuss terms and fees.

Alternative views

An image of Seal top spoon
An image of Seal top spoon
An image of Seal top spoon
An image of Seal top spoon
An image of Seal top spoon
View all 9 images attached
Current Location: Gallery 32 (Rothschild)

Titles

Baluster Seal Top spoon

Maker(s)

Silversmith: Unidentified

Entities

Categories

Description

Silver-gilt; the spoon has a fig-shaped bowl on a tapering, slightly flattened, hexagonal stem. The seal top finial has a flattened gadrooned knop above a gadrooned urn-shaped baluster knop. The back of the bowl is prick engraved 'CR'. The gilding is old but not contemporary with the manufacture of the spoon.
Marks: On the bowl is a leopard's head. On the stem is (1) a lion passant (2) date letter P for 1572-73 (3) maker's mark of a crescent enclosing a mullet.

Legal notes

T. H. Riches Bequest, 1935

Measurements and weight

Length: 17.8 cm
Length: 7 in
Weight: 65 g
Weight: 2:2 oz:dwt

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1935) by Riches, Thomas Henry

Dating

16th Century, third quarter
Elizabethan
1572 CE - 1573 CE

Note

The maker's mark of a crescent enclosing a mullet has not been identified, but as a large number of spoons, made between about 1550 and 1630, bear this mark it must have been used by a succession of specialist spoonmakers.

Components of the work

Surface composed of gold
Finial
Spoon

Materials used in production

Silver

Techniques used in production

Soldering

Inscription or legends present

  • Text: CR
  • Location: On the back of the bowl
  • Method of creation: Prick engraved
  • Type: Initials

Inscription present: a crescent enclosing a mullet

  • Location: On the back of the handle
  • Method of creation: Struck
  • Type: Maker's mark

Inscription present: lion passant

  • Location: On the back of the handle
  • Method of creation: Struck
  • Type: Hallmark

Inscription present: small gothic

  • Text: d
  • Location: On the back of the handle
  • Method of creation: Struck
  • Type: Hallmark

Inscription present: leopard's head crowned

  • Location: In the bowl of the spoon
  • Method of creation: Struck
  • Type: Hallmark

References and bibliographic entries

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: M.5-1950
Primary reference Number: 139845

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Friday 14 March 2025

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Baluster Seal Top spoon" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/139845 Accessed: 2025-12-05 08:06:12

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/139845 |title=Baluster Seal Top spoon |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 08:06:12|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-139845

Bootstrap HTML code for reuse

To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:

<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa30/M_5_1950_2_201406_jas244_mas.jpg"
        alt="Baluster Seal Top spoon"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Baluster Seal Top spoon</figcaption>
    </figure>
</div>

Sign up for updates

Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...

University of Cambridge Museums logo
Cambridge City Council logo
Arts Council England Logo
Research England logo