A commonwealth Scottish silver Incense spoon

A commonwealth Scottish silver Incense spoon,

unmarked, circa 1655,

the shaped oval bowl with engraved foliate decoration, the reverse with a rudimentary Scottish rat-tail, and scratch initialled 'I.H', the tapering stem with foliate decoration and with a pierced hole to the terminal, possibly to attach to an incense boat, length 10.8cm, approx. weight 0.4oz.

Provenance: The David Constable Collection.

Michael Baggott, December 2020.

Illustrated and written up in Constable, D., Silver Spoons of Britain 1200-1710, Constables Publishing, 2016, Volume 2, pages 912-913, entry number 207.

For another example of a Scottish incense spoon see: Dalgleish, G. and Fotheringham, H., Made in Scotland, , NMSE Publishing 2008. page 154, ref.7.19.