Ladle with a Slender Ebony Handle

A slender ebony handle paired with a silver bowl makes this ladle a clean example of Spratling's silver-and-ebony serving pieces, the dark wood drawn out to a fine line against the rounded metal. The contrast of warm wood and cool silver is the design's whole interest.

Ebony was one of the hardwoods Spratling returned to throughout his work, and a slim ebony handle gives a serving piece both warmth in the hand and a visual counterpoint to the silver. The form is functional and restrained, the design carried by the material pairing rather than applied ornament.

The ladle is recorded in Cederwall and Riney's Spratling Silver. As a documented silver-and-ebony serving piece it belongs to the hand-wrought tablewares the workshop produced alongside its jewelry, and individual examples reach the market only occasionally.