1974.02

Bronze Ladle

Purchased. Ht 24.4cm; diam. (bowl) 5.6cm.

Intact save that the loop at the top has been broken and rejoined. The surface is fairly heavily incrusted.

The back of the handle has two incised lines that run from the spurs above the bowl to the spurs at the top. The front seems to have had the same. The handle terminates at the top in a swan’s head.

Probably ca 250-150 BC. For bronze ladles, see Olynthus X, 194-8; M. Comstock and C.C. Vermeule, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Bronzes (Boston 1971) 418 no. 605; J.W. Hayes, Greek, Roman and Related Metalware in the Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto 1983) 40-46. There is a good overview of later versions by M. Castoldi and M. Feugère, “Les simpulums”, in: M. Feugère and C. Rolley (eds.), La vaisselle tardo-républicaine en bronze. Actes de la table-ronde CNRS, Lattes, 1990 (Dijon 1991) 61-88.

D. Strong (Greek and Roman Gold and Silver Plate [London 1966] 91-92 and 115-116) pointed out that the pattern of development in the Hellenistic period seems to be for the spurs to become more pronounced and the bowl to move from relatively shallow to hemispherical, a point reiterated by Comstock and Vermeule. Compare the silver examples in the Baker collection and in the British Museum, Strong pll. 22a and 34: the former may be dated to the early third century, the latter to ca 75 BC. On the latter note the more developed spurs and the way the grooves have a better function.

The Greek word for a ladle was kyathos: see the useful article by M. Crosby, “A Silver Ladle and a Strainer”, American Journal of Archaeology 47, 1943, 209-216, for an inscribed example of the late fourth or early third century (= Greek and Roman Metalware [Exhib. Cat. Baltimore 1976] no. 51, in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, inv. 13-953). The word was also an indicator of quantity (cf. ‘cup’ or the various types of ‘spoonful’ in modern cookery), the amount being about 44.4ml.

Bronze vessels were of course very popular in the ancient world, particularly jugs, buckets and the like, since they could be expected to last longer than pottery. Three further articles may be noted as useful publications of material of this general category: G. Siebert, “Mobilier délien en bronze”, Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique suppl. 1, 1973, 555-587; A. Andriomenou, “Vases et lampes de bronze dans les collections privées d’Athènes”, Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique 99, 1975, 535-580; J. Vocotopoulou, “Le trésor de vases en bronze de Votonosi”, Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique 99, 1975, 729-788. Worth noting among more recent publications are M. Tiverios, ‘‘Ηθμοειδής κύαθος”, in: Πότνια οἰνου. Διεθνές ἐπιστημονικὁ συμπόσιο Σταυρούλας Κουράκου-Δραγώνα (Volos 2009) 95-116; D. Ignatiadou, “Contextualizing a Set of Classical Bronze Vessels from Macedonia”, in: E. Deschler-Erb and P. Della Casa (eds). New Research on Ancient Bronzes. Acta of the XVIIIth International Congress on Ancient Bronzes. Zurich Studies in Archaeology, 10, 2015, 77-83.

For illustrations of them in use, see for example A. Greifenhagen, “Lekythos des Kerberosmalers”, Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen 3, 1961, 47-5; F. Muscolino, “Un cratere attici a figure rosse con graffito commerciale menzionante kothones e arysteres”, BABesch 92, 2017, 67-81. For an ancient inventory that included ladles amongst collected silverware, see G. Reger, “A New Inventory from Mylasa in Karia”, in: K. Konuk (ed.), Stephanèphoros. De l’économie antique à l’Asie Mineure. Hommages à Raymond Descat (Bordeaux 2012) 145-163.

Charles Ede Ltd (London), Catalogue 96 (May 1974) no. 12 (ill.); J.R. Green with B. Rawson, Catalogue of Antiquities in the Australian National University, A.N.U. (Canberra, 1981) 100.