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A mustard spoon of silver and ebony, this is among the smallest and most specialized objects in Spratling's table service, pairing the metal of the bowl with the dense black wood of the handle. The piece shows how far his coordinated flatware extended, down to the individual condiment implement rendered in two contrasting materials.
The spoon was produced between 1958 and 1967, placing it in the final decade of Spratling's career, the years many regard as his most inventive. The ebony-and-silver pairing belongs to the same family of organic-material designs he pursued across rings, cups, and serving pieces in this period.
A mustard spoon is a minor object made in modest quantity, and examples reach the market only occasionally. Its interest lies in being a complete realization of Spratling's material approach at the smallest scale, the contrast of silver and wood carried into a single specialized utensil.
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