One of two Ragout Spoons 1786

Editor: This is one of two Ragout Spoons by Paul Revere. It's made of silver, and it's quite long. It strikes me as incredibly elegant, but also functional. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see a fascinating interplay between function, status, and the labor of crafting. Consider the silver itself – a material tied to wealth and power. Who owned this spoon, and what kind of labor practices were involved in both mining the silver and crafting the object? Editor: That's interesting. I hadn't thought about the mining aspect. Curator: And think about the term "ragout spoon." What did people eat with this spoon? Who prepared it, and what does that tell us about social hierarchies of the time? The spoon becomes a lens through which we can examine material culture and social relationships. Editor: So, it's not just a spoon, but a historical artifact of production and consumption. Curator: Precisely. Every object tells a story about its making and use. I've learned a new way of seeing Revere's work.