Spoon

The ladle is in the form of a shield it has an engraved escutcheon on the inside with the monogram HL, combined with a cross and ending in an arrow. The cast handle is baluster shaped with a double division it ends in a leaved spherical finial. Such spoons were used for eating a particular meal something (in between the thickness of soups and sauces) as described by Péter Apor (cf. Metamorphosis Transylvaniae, 1736). There are several similar spoons in the collection of the Hungarian National Museum, decorated with escutcheons, family monograms, emblems and Hebrew letters. Those analogues in foreign collections are all of Hungarian origin, so we can suppose that these spoons with baluster handles and shield ladles were a special Hungarian type of cutlery.