Spoon

Paul Revere Jr.

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The turned-back handle on this tablespoon became fashionable by the last quarter of the eighteenth century. Earlier spoons had been engraved on the back of the handle with initials or armorial devices and laid on the table backside up. With the new fashion, engraving moved to the front, and the spoon was set backside down. The die-stamped cartouche and the feather edging along each side of the handle are consistent with the new styling. The dolphin engraved within the cartouche is the crest of the Sargent family of Massachusetts. Revere's business records indicate that he supplied silver to several members of that family. He also engraved a bookplate for Epes Sargent in 1764.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art