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This and 59 other objects are a part of a set whose first object is Dessert Service And Case (France).

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1996

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Object ID #18653923

This is a spoon. It was manufactured by C. V. Gibert. It is dated ca. 1890 and we acquired it in 1996. Its medium is silver. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.

Designed not just for opulent display but also as a functional element in a final dinner course, this dessert service is an example of the expansive, highly specialized sets of cutlery that were considered ceremonially and functionally necessary for the elegant dinner table in late-19th-century Europe and America. This extravagant display of wealth in silverware exhibits the overindulgence attributed to gluttony.

It is credited Museum purchase from Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program, Decorative Arts Association Acquisition, and Sarah Cooper-Hewitt Funds.

  • Mouse
  • Gift of Anonymous Donor.
  • 1967-45-185

Its dimensions are

L x W x D: 18.1 × 3.8 × 3 cm (7 1/8 × 1 1/2 × 1 3/16 in.)

It has the following markings

On interior of bowl, stamped: [1] C.V.G. below star inside lozenge (maker's mark for Charles Victor Gilbert) [2] illegible mark (possibly board head mark indicating .800 fineness) On reverse of neck, stamped: [3] 2 [4] illegible mark (possibly board head mark indicating .800 fineness)

Cite this object as

Object ID #18653923; Manufactured by Charles Victor Gibert (French); France; silver; L x W x D: 18.1 × 3.8 × 3 cm (7 1/8 × 1 1/2 × 1 3/16 in.); Museum purchase from Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program, Decorative Arts Association Acquisition, and Sarah Cooper-Hewitt Funds; 1996-56-9

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibitions The Virtue in Vice and Feeding Desire: Design and the Tools of the Table, 1500-2005.

This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18653923/ |title=Object ID #18653923 |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=6 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>