Red Soup Spoon

This 19th-century porcelain soup spoon was likely used as an everyday eating utensil. Used in China as early as the Shang dynasty (1600 - 1046 B.C.), spoons predated chopsticks and remained the most common utensil until the 10th century. Cloaked in a red-orange glaze, the spoon's sinuous form elevates the functional tool to a sculptural object.