Spoon

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The birth of a child was a great event, especially during times with high infant mortality rates, and special gifts were associated with the occasion. A silver spoon was a common offering, because it was the first utensil that an infant would use on their own. Such spoons were often embellished with coats of arms, initials, and dates to record family history. Here, the year 1599 could be a later addition, as the style of the spoon suggests it was made at an earlier date. [Wolfram Koeppe 2015]

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art