<em>Spoon</em>, ca. 1336–1327 B.C.E. Ivory, 2 9/16 x 11/16 x 8 3/16 in. (6.5 x 1.8 x 20.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 42.411. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 42.411_SL1.jpg)

Spoon, ca. 1336–1327 B.C.E. Ivory, 2 9/16 x 11/16 x 8 3/16 in. (6.5 x 1.8 x 20.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 42.411. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 42.411_SL1.jpg)

<em>Spoon</em>, ca. 1336–1327 B.C.E. Ivory, 2 9/16 x 11/16 x 8 3/16 in. (6.5 x 1.8 x 20.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 42.411. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , CUR.42.411_NegA_print_bw.jpg)

Spoon, ca. 1336–1327 B.C.E. Ivory, 2 9/16 x 11/16 x 8 3/16 in. (6.5 x 1.8 x 20.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 42.411. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , CUR.42.411_NegA_print_bw.jpg)

DOWNLOAD

Spoon

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: 19th Dynasty to Roman Period, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

The late Eighteenth Dynasty was one of the the most flamboyant and excessive periods of design in Egyptian history. This spoon demonstrates the dominant aesthetic of the day: the complementary union of naturalistic elements, formal design, and excessive, stylized detailing.

The motif is a pomegranate branch terminating in a huge reddish-yellow fruit that swivels on a tiny pivot to reveal the bowl of the spoon. Tiny pomegranates, brightly painted flowers, and slender leaves project from the stem that serves as the handle. Beneath the lowest leaves the artisan has added an extraordinary embellishment: two lotus flowers, each with a Mimispos fruit emerging from it.

Although the individual elements of the spoon are treated with painstaking attention to detail, the design itself is pure fantasy. For example, pomegranate flowers and fruit never appear on a tree at the same time.

MEDIUM Ivory

Place Made: Egypt

DATES ca. 1336–1327 B.C.E.

DYNASTY late Dynasty 18

PERIOD New Kingdom

DIMENSIONS 2 9/16 x 11/16 x 8 3/16 in. (6.5 x 1.8 x 20.8 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 42.411

CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Polychromed ivory ointment-spoon in the shape of a pomegranate, with a stem bearing flowers and small pomegranates forming the handle. The pomegranate forming the bowl of the spoon is in two sections, the upper one serves as a cover. It opens on a swivel pin; part of a small knob (?) used for turning it still survives. The stem, bearing two pairs of flowers, three pairs of lanceolate leaves and a pair of small pomegranates, has, at the base two half-opened lotus flowers on long stems which are represented as being bound by withes to the pomegranate stem to form the manche of the handle. The large pomegranate forming bowl of the spoon is painted in a warm, pale brown, the flowers are deep red, the leaves, stem and small fruits black, the withes at the handle pale brown and the lotus stems red. Save that the underside of the large pomegranate is somewhat flattened to provide a surface on which to rest the spoon, the piece is identical on the two sides. Probably made for funerary purposes, not for actual use.

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view on the 19th Dynasty to Roman Period, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

CAPTION Spoon, ca. 1336–1327 B.C.E. Ivory, 2 9/16 x 11/16 x 8 3/16 in. (6.5 x 1.8 x 20.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 42.411. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 42.411_SL1.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 42.411_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

RECORD COMPLETENESS

Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.