Spoon

Theodore B. Starr

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In 1877, following his 13-year partnership with the German-born jeweler and silversmith Herman Marcus, Theodore B. Starr (1837–1907) established his own luxury goods store at 206 Fifth Avenue, near Madison Square, in a highly fashionable neighborhood. An article published in the New York Times on December 20, 1890, declared that "Starr’s establishment… has no duplicate in this country, and probably not in the world." Among the wares produced by the firm were silver spoons in historical revival styles. The present examples, with their interlaced Celtic motifs, resemble spoons designed by Archibald Knox for Liberty & Company, London, produced to commemorate the coronation of Edward VII in 1902.

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