Early Georgian sterling mote spoon, circa 1700
Size: 6 h x 1 w in
C17496
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Tea in the 17th century and most of the 18th century was supplied in a rather crude form with large leaves and a great deal of dust. Mote spoons, with their pierced bowls, were used to separate the larger leaves from the chaff of grit, stones, twigs and even dead insects that managed to find their way into the bags of raw tea leaves during the harvesting process. Mote spoons were also likely used to remove fragments of tea or ‘mote’ from teacups before drinking. The sharp pointed end of the spoon would have been used to dislodge blockages from the inside of the spout of the teapot. Mote spoons ceased to be used or produced in the 1770’s.
During the late 17th century the mote spoon was a simple pierced bowl, with a long thin stem of uniform thickness. The stem and bowl were made of two pieces, being attached with the soldered “rat tail” form. The patterns and shapes of the piercing in the bowls of the spoons aids greatly in dating the pieces, with the earliest having simple holes punched through the bowl and latter versions having much more elaborately patterned cuts.