Obsolete, Beautiful Objects - a photo on Flickriver

            “The slotted spoon can catch the potato.” – the final line of Jack’s Mother in the musical “Into the Woods” (1987) by Stephen Sondheim.

What Jack’s Mother says is true, but this spoon is not intended to catch potatoes.  So, what kind of spoon is it that is pierced, yet is not used for straining?  It is a sugar sifting spoon.  Sugar sifters are small ladle shaped spoons which could be used at the table to take the powdered sugar from sugar bowls or sugar baskets and sprinkle it over fruit, puddings or cakes. During the Nineteenth Century refined sugar became cheaper and thus readily available to a larger section of the population.  Sugar sifter spoons developed in the mid Eighteenth Century and are similar in form and size to sauce ladles, but with flattened bowl bases.  The bowls were decorated with elaborate pierced patterns.  This sifting ladle made in 1853 by the silversmiths firm Yapp and Woodward in Birmingham.  John Yapp and John Woodward registered their business in 1845.  At one stage they were partners with Joseph Willmore.  They were renowned for making Visiting Card Cases. It is not usually possible to identify the artist or designer responsible for a particular design on a piece of cutlery, which makes this sifting ladle a delightful exception to the rule.

The theme for "Looking Close on Friday" on the 1st of March is "one spoon and one fork".  This is a nice, easy theme.  However, me being me, I didn’t want to use just any old spoon and fork.  Therefore I decided to use this beautiful sterling silver sugar sifting ladle with its ornate piercing and elegant handle.  Of course, sugar sifting ladles are seldom seen these days and it is an archaic and obsolete piece of cutler from the Victorian age, so when it came to a fork, I decided to use an equally old fashioned and obsolete piece of cutlery: an ornately decorated rather trident looking silver pickle fork (used to withdrawing pickles from pickle jars to avoid getting oily fingers) with a sterling silver collar and a mother of pearl handle.  Whilst both pieces are now obsolete, they are still beautiful objects that remind us of a time when even the most utilitarian items were beautiful works of art.  I have placed them against a hand embroidered tablecloth from the 1850s, which also harks back to a slower and more genteel time when such handicrafts were common.  As this is the case, I have given the image a slightly sepia tone to give that vintage feel.  I hope you like my choice for this week’s theme, and that it makes you smile.

Taken on: February 17, 2024

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Looking Close on Friday

One spoon & one fork

Una Cuchara & Un Tenedor

Una Cuchara and Un Tenedor

Una

cuchara

tenedor

spoon

fork

cutlery

silver

sterling silver

pickle fork

ladle

scoop

Victorian

Edwardian

Victoriana

Edwardiana

1850s

sugar sifting ladle

sugar sifting spoon

sifting spoon

sifting ladle

sugar scoop

Yapp and Woodward

John Yapp

John Woodward

London

1853

embroidered

embroidery

embroidered tablecloth

tablecloth

lace

applique

stitch

stitching

embroider

red

green

ecru

yellow

lemon

napery

cloth

fabric

1910s

1900s

etching

engraved

engraving

trident

Belle Époque

Belle Epoque

Jugendstil

Nouveau

Art Nouveau

trident fork

macro

macro photography

tabletop photography

tabletop

vintage

old

collectible

collection

antique

antique silver

old silver

Edwardian silver

Victorian silver

tableware

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Camera: Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS, f/2.8, 1/400 sec, 6.2mm, ISO 80 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS
Aperture:	f/2.8
Exposure Time:	0.003 sec (1/400)
Focal Length:	6.2mm
ISO:	80
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
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