- Museum number
- 1946,1007.29
- Description
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Silver spoon (cochlear) with pear-shaped bowl. The octagonal-sectioned handle tapers to a blunt point; the sides a slightly chamfered. The offset is a vertical openwork comma with a small stepped moulding. The bowl has a punched Greek inscription, a Chi-Rho symbol flanked by an Alpha and Omega.
- Production date
- 4thC
- Dimensions
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Length: 60.70 millimetres (bowl only)
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Length: 143 millimetres (handle only)
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Length: 202 millimetres
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Weight: 26.99 grammes
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Silver spoons from the Mildenhall treasure
Roman Britain, 4th century AD
Found in Mildenhall, Suffolk
The eight spoons in the Mildenhall treasure represent examples from at least three, perhaps four, sets. It seems fair to assume that the owner of such an outstanding piece of silver plate as the Great Dish would have had a large number of spoons, most of which were not hidden in this particular cache.
Three spoons have foliate decoration which matches that on the large fluted bowl. Another three bear the only overt Christian symbols in the hoard, the Greek letters chi and rho, the first letters of Christ's name, flanked by alpha and omega (the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, another symbol of Christ - 'I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last' (Revelation 1:8)). The remaining two spoons have personal names (Papittedo and Pascentia) with the word vivas ('may you live'), a good-luck formula frequently used in late-Roman times, often by Christians.
- Bibliographic references
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Painter 1977a / The Mildenhall Treasure: Roman Silver from East Anglia
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Hobbs 2008 / The secret history of the Mildenhall treasure
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R I B / The Roman Inscriptions of Britain (II.2, 2420.54, pp. 141)
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Roman Britain 1964 / Guide to the Antiquities of Roman Britain (p. 40)
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Hobbs & Jackson 2010 / Roman Britain Life at the Edge of Empire (p. 151, fig. 121)
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Hobbs 2016 / The Mildenhall Treasure: Late Roman Silver Plate from East Anglia (p.1, pl.1, p.4, p.5, pl.8, p.7, p.10, p.11, pl.15, pl.17, p.12, pl.18, p.15, p.16, p.17, table.2, p.188, p.218, p.220, p.220-232, p.222, p.223, pl.381, p.224, p.227, table.16, p.227-228, p.229, p.232, p.238, p.241, p.243, p.244, p.266, table.28, p.267, pl.407, p.270, p.271, p.273, p.279, table.31, p.292, p.297) (cat.24)
- Location
- On display (G49/dc22)
- Exhibition history
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Exhibited:
2007 2 Jun-4 Nov, Germany, Trier, Bischöfliche Dom und Diözesanmuseum, Constantine the Great
2005-2006 25 Jul-13 Jan, Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Buried Treasure: Finding Our Past
2005 12 Feb-26 Jun, Newcastle, Hancock Museum, Buried Treasure: Finding Our Past
2004-2005 1 Oct-15 Jan, Manchester Museum, Buried Treasure: Finding Our Past
2004 30 Apr-21 Sep, Cardiff, National Museums & Galleries of Wales, Buried Treasure: Finding Our Past
2003-2004 21 Nov-14 Mar, London, BM, Buried Treasure: Finding Our Past
2003 22 Mar-12 Oct, Woodbridge, Sutton Hoo Exhibition Centre, Far Fetched Treasures
1996 30 Mar-13 Nov, Italy, Rimini, Sala dell’Arengo, Dalla Terra Alle Genti
- Acquisition date
- 1946
- Acquisition notes
- Found while ploughing, 1942
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1946,1007.29