Castor sugar spoon

Nineteenth-century principles of good table manners required observing the use of suitable cutlery in accordance with its specialised purpose. One piece, with a rather narrow use, was a spoon for castor sugar. Such spoons, sometimes made out of gilt silver and part of dessert cutlery sets, appeared already in the middle of the eighteenth century and are easily recognisable due to their decoratively composed latticework bottom. They were used because cracked cane sugar included multiple lumps and was difficult to sprinkle on a given dish. The presented spoon originates from a renowned Parisian workshop specialising in cutlery and cooperating with other producers who offered for sale the remaining elements of the set. It belonged to Aleksandra Potocka, the daughter of Stanisław Septym Potocki, and after her marriage to August Potocki in 1840 was part of her dowry together with a dessert cutlery set.