{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O271858"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O271858/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JH7475/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JH7475/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2016JH7475","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JH7474","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JH7476","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JJ1396","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O271858/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O271858","accessionNumber":"154-1903","objectType":"Spoon","titles":[{"title":"spoon","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This design of this spoon is typical of a type popular across Europe in the first decade of the eighteenth century until about 1770. The style emerged in England in  around 1710, and has become known as 'Hanoverian' because it was popular  during the reigns of the first two Hanoverian monarchs (George I and George II), who ruled between 1714-1760. The finial of the spoon has been designed so that the spoon can be placed on the table with its open bowl down (the opposite of how it would be set on the table  today) and this is why the initials of the original owner are engraved on what we would now think of as the back of the spoon. This arrangement followed French fashions, which had developed at the end of the seventeenth century.The drop at the heel of this example (where  the stem joins the bowl) is characteristic of spoons made after around 1730. Unusually, the heel of this spoon is embellished with a stamped shell design. In the 1730s, the ‘rat-tail’ on the back of spoon bowls gave way to the ‘drop’ or ‘double drop’, a development which meant that there was an area of plain surface on the back of the spoon bowl that offered space for embellishment. From the 1730s until the 1780s, the backs of spoon bowls, particularly of teaspoons, were embellished with a stamped design. These are referred to as ‘fancy backs’ by modern collectors. The design was added just below, or attached to, the drop or ‘heel’ of the spoon. The earliest motif was a shell, sometimes combined with a scroll pattern, although other designs, such as the ostrich feather crest of the Prince of Wales, are also found. This type of embellishment is rare on larger spoons and on forks.","physicalDescription":"Spoon, silver, Hanoverian pattern with a drop and shell back, the finial engraved with the initials 'E W'.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Tookey, James","id":"A13872"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"x40240"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silver","id":"AAT11029"}],"techniques":[{"text":"forging (metal forming)","id":"AAT54033"},{"text":"engraving (incising)","id":"AAT53829"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Silver, forged and engraved","categories":[{"text":"Eating","id":"THES48963"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Tableware & cutlery","id":"THES48888"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2016JH7475","2016JH7474","2016JH7476","2016JJ1396"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"006","id":"THES408921"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Spoon","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1754-1755","earliest":"1754-05-29","latest":"1755-05-28"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Gift of J.H. Fitzhenry","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"20","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"10/03/2016","earliest":"2016-03-10","latest":"2016-03-10"},"part":"tip of finial to tip of bowl","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"54.3","unit":"g","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"10/03/2016","earliest":"2016-03-10","latest":"2016-03-10"},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Marks on stem, L to R from bowl: maker's mark of James Tookey; lion passant, mark of sterling standard silver; leopard's head crowned, the mark of the London assay office; 't' for assay year 1754-55","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""},{"content":"Engraved on the finial, the initials 'E W'.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Silver, English, London, 1754-55, mark of James Tookey","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Grimwade, Arthur G.. <u>London Goldsmiths 1697-1837. Their Marks and Lives</u>. 1st  edn. London: Faber and Faber, 1976."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Snodin, Michael. <u>English Silver Spoons</u>. London: Charles Letts, 1974. ISBN 850971101"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Pickford, Ian. <u>Silver Flatware. English, Irish and Scottish 1660-1980</u>. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors' Club, 1983. ISBN 0907462359"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"initials","id":"AAT28709"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["154-1903"],"accessionNumberNum":"154","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1903,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-06-09","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":true}}