James I Silver Lion Sejant Spoon, 1608 Cawdell

This is a fine example of a James I silver lion sejant spoon made by the most important silver spoonmaker of the early 17th century – William Cawdell.

The spoon features all the traits one would expect from an early Stuart period spoon: deep, fig-shaped bowl, tapering hexagonal stem and well-modelled cast finial in the form of a sitting lion on a pedestal. The spoon has a good weight and the high quality can be seen in the way the cast lion has been made with gaps showing between its fore legs and underside, its tail can be seen curled up his back and the mane retains some of the original detail.

The condition of the spoon is excellent with a good, unworn bowl and a great set of London hallmarks that include the C enclosing a W mark of William Cawdell.

William Cawdell was the most important spoonmaker of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. He was apprenticed to Patrick Brue in 1576 and was an important link in the master/apprenticeship dynasty of London spoonmakers. His output was prolific and the quality of his spoons were the best of the late Tudor period. His distinctive style of maker's mark was later copied by his apprentices (James Cluatt, Martin Cottrell and John Jermyn) that succeeded him.