Spoon

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Numerous inventories refer to spoons "slipped on the stalk," that is, spoons the stems or handles of which were simply terminated at right-angles. A great number of spoons of this type have survived and their popularity may well be explained by the simple and consequently less expensive decoration of the handles. This example is considered by some scholars to be the earliest extant example of an English slip-top spoon. On the back of the handle at the top appear the crowned leopard’s head, the London hallmark for the years 1485 to 1488, the date letter for the 1487, and an illegible maker’s mark.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.

Metropolitan Museum of Art