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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2012.1.56
Title
Bone Spoon (Cochlear)
Classification
Tools and Equipment
Work Type
spoon
Date
1st-2nd century
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Roman Imperial period
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/178163

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bone
Technique
Carved
Dimensions
10.3 × 2.6 cm (4 1/16 × 1 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Edith M. Proctor, Drexel Hill, PA (by 1923) gift; to the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University 1973, transfer; to the Harvard Art Museums, 2012.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University
Accession Year
2012
Object Number
2012.1.56
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Carved bone spoon made in two pieces, joining below the rim of the bowl; the bowl is semi-spherical and shallow; the handle tapers to a point and is highly polished.

Commentary
The pointed end of a spoon of this type, called cochlear spoons (after cochlea, which is Latin for snail) due to the shape, would have been used to pierce shells of shellfish and eggs or to open mollusk shells (1).

1. Pliny, Natural History XXVIII, 4.

Publication History

  • John Crawford, Sidney Goldstein, George M. A. Hanfmann, John Kroll, Judith Lerner, Miranda Marvin, Charlotte Moore, and Duane Roller, Objects of Ancient Daily Life. A Catalogue of the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection Belonging to the Department of the Classics, Harvard University, ed. Jane Waldbaum, Department of the Classics (unpublished manuscript, 1970), BI41, p. 140-41 [J. A. Lerner]

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/17/2017 - 05/08/2017; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/22/2022 - 05/08/2022; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/28/2023 - 05/07/2023; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/20/2024 - 05/05/2024

Subjects and Contexts

  • Roman Domestic Art

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu