{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O295320"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O295320/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JL2059/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JL2059/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2016JL2059","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KY3898","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O295320/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O295320","accessionNumber":"1258-1872","objectType":"Spoon","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"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. An spoon of identical shape with a very similar fitting and coat of arms applied in the same way (the arms of a German family and the initials C. A.) was in the collection of Mr Jean-Georges Rueff and offered for sale by the French dealers Alavoine Antiquités, 42 Avenue Kléber, Paris, in 1970. 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.","physicalDescription":"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.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2016JL2059","2018KY3898"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"69 (VA)","id":"THES49729"},"free":"","case":"4","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Spoon","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Austria","id":"x28728"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":"possibly"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1550","earliest":"1545-01-01","latest":"1554-12-31"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"15","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"at widest point of bowl","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Applied to the back of the stem where it joins the bowl:\r\na small plaque with the initials A. V., below which the arms of the Unterholzer family of Southern Austria.","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":"The arms on the stem are those of the Unterholzer family of Southern Austria. The initials 'A V' do not appear to correspond to any member of the dynasty from the mid-sixteenth-century, however. (See Siebmacher (1983), vol. 26.II, p. 443 and pl. 209 for arms and genealogy.)\r\nThe Museum collections include a medal (V&A Museum no. 151-1867) with a portrait of Sebastian Unterholzer (ennobled 1550) and his wife.\r\nNothing is known of the object's maker or of its early history. It was acquired by the Museum in 1872 from the dealers A. S. Drey of Munich.","historicalContext":"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 mounting two different pieces from a shell in this style of mount is not unique. An spoon of identical shape with a very similar fitting, with an applied coat of arms (of a German family and the initials C. A. engraved above the applied plaque) was in the collection of Mr Jean-Georges Rueff and offered for sale by the French dealers Alavoine Antiquités, 42 Avenue Kléber, Paris, in 1970. (See Somers-Cocks, <u>Catalogue of German Silver</u>, entry for V&A 1258-1872.) 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.","briefDescription":"cowrie shell, gilded silver and niello, possibly Austria, ca. 1550","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Van Trigt, Jan. <u>From Gothic to Art Deco Cutlery: The J. Hollander Collection</u>. Antwerp: Petraco-Pandora, 2003. 298 p., ill. Catalogue of the exhibition held at the Design Museum, Ghent, July 11 - September 28, 2003. ISBN 90 5325 223 1"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Amme, Jochen. Historische Bestecke: Formenwandel von der Alsteinzeit bis zur Moderne. [Historic cutlery: Changes in Form from the Early Stone Age to the mid-20th Century]. Stuttgart: Arnoldsche, 2002. ISBN 3897901676"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>J. Siebmacher's grosses Wappenbuch: Die Wappen des Adels in Niederösterreich</u> [Reprinted from Bd.4, Abt.4, T.1-2 of <u>Siebmacher’s Wappenbauch</u>. Originally published: Nuremberg, 1909-1918]. Neustadt an der Aisch: Bauer & Raspe, 1983. ISBN 387947026X"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Somers-Cocks, Anna. <u>Catalogue of German Silver</u>. Unpublished catalogue of the V&A collections."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Pechstein, Klaus, ed. <u>Deutsche Goldschmeidekunst: vom 15. bis zum 20. Jahurhundert aus dem Germanischen Nationalmuseum</u>. Exhibition Catalogue. Nuremberg: Germanisches Nationalmuseum / Berlin: W. Arenhövel, 1987. ISBN 3922912222"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Spoon\r\nShell mounted in silver-gilt\r\nAustrian; about 1550\r\n1258-1872","date":{"text":"1908s","earliest":"1908-01-01","latest":"1908-12-31"}},{"text":"SPOON\r\nShell and silver-gilt, enamelled with the arms of Unterholtzer vom Haus\r\nAustrian; 16th century","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["1258-1872"],"accessionNumberNum":"1258","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1872,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LU5400"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-11","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":false}}