Set of five teaspoons

John Ladyman

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 510

In the first half of the eighteenth century, tea was a luxury item, an expensive imported commodity. Although most vessels made for the tea service—usually of silver or porcelain—were also expensive, this set of gold implements must have seemed impossibly lavish. The pierced spoon was used to skim stray tea leaves from the cup.

Set of five teaspoons, John Ladyman (active 1697–1712 or later), Gold, Irish, Dublin

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