Souvenir spoon: Rome

1890-1910

Measurements

5-1/4 in x 1 in x 5/8 in

Materials

Gold-washed silver and enamels

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.

Accession Number

1971.1105

Inscription

“ROMA / S·P·Q·R” is in the bowl.

Provenance

Ex coll. Mrs. E. Tatnall (Mary Corbit) Warner

Comments

Romulus and Remus, the legendary twin brothers who founded Rome in 753 BCE, are shown suckling the she-wolf that saved them.  The pose reproduces a 5th century BCE bronze sculpture in Rome known as the Capitoline Wolf.

“S·P·Q·R” stands for “Senatus Populus Que Romanus” ("The Senate and the Roman People").

A finely executed mosaic showing St. Peter’s Basilica with the Egyptian obelisk in the center of the plaza decorates the face of the handle tip.  The back of the handle is decorated with rings and beads.

For another souvenir spoon with similar themes, see accession no. 1971.1175.

 

Bibliography

Accumulation & Display:  Mass Marketing Household Goods in America, 1880-1920 (The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1986), no. 182, p. 137.