Museum Object Number1959.2588 |
Ladle (Whistle)
Organic (ivory, horn, etc.)
Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont
England, United Kingdom, Europe
1750-1850
Horn; Wood
1.5 (H) , 12.6 (L) , 3 (Diam)
3.8 (H) , 32 (L) , 7.5 (Diam)
Diameter is of bowl
Horn is a versatile and durable material (primarily keratin) that is thermoplastic. It becomes pliant and flexible with heat. A hornsmith or horn worker can bend and reshape it, press it, or flatten opened horns into sheets even to the point of translucency. It was common practice to dye horn to simulate natural tortoise shell. Typical horn sources are cattle and buffalo, bison, sheep, and goats. In recent centuries, cow horn was not an exotic material, but ubiquitous and cross-cultural. By the early 1800s, there were professional horn cutters, horn pressers, horn plate manufacturers, scale pressers, horn comb makers and merchants, even horn waste dealers in America. This ladle is made of horn featuring a pressed scalloped shell design on the bowl and the handle tip is a whistle.