This spoon is part of a set comprising also a fork and knife. The trefid (three sectioned) end of the fork and spoon handle became fashionable in the 1660s, evolving from earlier ‘Puritan’ spoons and French forms. The octagonal knife handle is typical of the mid-late seventeenth century, and the square-ended blade was developed in the 1650s perhaps in response to the introduction of forks for food-spearing instead of knives.

Although four registered London silversmiths have the initials TT, the crowned TT mark has not survived in the records at Goldsmiths’ Hall. The mark has been ascribed to Thomas Tysoe, but he was apprenticed in 1674 and would not have registered a mark until the 1680s.

The rich and finely engraved decoration was inspired by continental prints. The small roundels are engraved with classical scenes; that on the fork may depict Perseus and Andromeda. Scrollwork with stylised foliage and putti intermingle with homely vignettes of fashionable ladies, buglers and soldiers.

The coat of arms on this spoon and fork are those of Sir Robert Button of Tockenham Court, Lyneham, Wiltshire and his wife Eleanor, daughter of William Compton of Hartbury, Gloucester. It has been suggested that the cutlery was made during Button’s term of office as High Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1670.