ELEGANT BYZANTINE SILVER SPOON WITH SHELL DECORATION

Ca. AD 600 . A silver spoon with a deep pear-shaped bowl joined by a tight volute above a short, flat-sided neck to a long, round-section stem rising to a lanceolate finial, the underside of the bowl engraved with a shell motif. For similar see: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Object number 13.42.1a; The British Museum, Museum number 1899,0425.9. Size: 163mm x 30mm; Weight: 26.2g Provenance: Private London collection, acquired on the German art market, Munich before 2000.