Today we tend to think of spoons as commonplace, humble items but in Shakespeare’s time a good-quality spoon was a sign of social status and a prized personal item. Guests usually brought their own cutlery to dinner and spoons specifically were used in communal dishes. It was therefore important to have a decent spoon to show off when in company. As objects for display as well as use, spoons were sometimes embellished with meaningful imagery, or engraved with the owner’s initial(s).
The decoration of spoons was often focused on the end of the handle, known as the ‘knop’. Knops had a practical role in that they stopped the spoon from sliding into a dish of food but in the Tudor period this element was exploited as a design feature.
One spoon of around 1500 in the SBT collection has a rare ‘monks-head’ knop, showing the head and shoulders of a monk in a cowl. In the bowl of the spoon are the initials ‘IG’.
Another spoon of about 1620-1640 has a ‘seal-top’ knop, a flattened disc shape that could be engraved with the initials of the owner in the manner of a seal. Here there are two sets of initials: on the back of the handle’s stem are the initials ‘RC’, probably the maker - Richard Chandler of Plymouth - while on the reverse of the bowl are the initials ‘T E F’, signifying the owner. The inclusion of the initials in this silver spoon suggests that both maker and owner were very proud of it!
Many spoons from this period had a knop incorporating a biblical figure. So-called ‘Apostle spoons’ came in sets of 12 or sometimes 13; a full set of spoons depicted Christ’s twelve Apostles and a ‘Master’ spoon depicted Jesus. A complete set of Apostle spoons would have most likely been owned by the more wealthy in society such as noblemen and the upper gentry, whereas the middle or lower social orders might have possessed a few or even only a single spoon.
Within a set, the Apostles are customarily distinguished from one another by their identifying attributes; for example, an Apostle spoon with an image of St. Peter usually shows him with a key, while St. John holds a chalice, and St. James the Greater has his pilgrim’s staff.
Apostle spoons were a customary baptismal gift. This is alluded to in Shakespeare’s Henry VIII, Act V, Scene II, where King Henry asks Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, if he would be the godfather for Henry’s young daughter Elizabeth.
KING HENRY That is a fair young maid that yet wants baptism—
You must be godfather, and answer for her.
CRANMER The greatest monarch now alive may glory
In such an honour; how may I deserve it,
That am a poor and humble subject to you?
KING HENRY Come, come, my lord—you’d spare your spoons.
Here, Henry teases Cranmer that he is trying to save the expense of christening spoons. We don’t know if the young Elizabeth was given Apostle spoons at her baptism, but it is possible she was presented with some in 1592 - a unique and fascinating set of spoons known as the ‘Tichbourne celebrities’ actually includes a knop-figure of Queen Elizabeth I herself, along with Christ and St Peter.