Fireplace spoon Carved from boxwood, from a single piece of wood. Spoon with a hollow, ovoid bowl. Long handle bearing, at the top, the monogram ‘L.J’ within a sort of pomegranate. Below this is a star with four commas in the spandrels, and the four playing card suits combined into one, with a heart decorated with a spade, a club and a diamond. On the reverse, the handle is carved with a series of humorous motifs, in the form of a rebus, leading to a sort of coin bearing the profile of a man smoking a pipe, surrounded by the date ‘1930’ and ‘MARS’, placed beneath a skier. 20th century L. 35.5 cm A restored crack, variegated patina and varnish