“Foxy”
A Welsh Love Spoon from Carmarthenshire
Zoomorphic lovespoons are very uncommon and this one with its fox cresting is especially rare.
This is one of a group of striking, naively carved love spoons often of large scale, made in Carmarthenshire at the end of the 19th century.
Mostly made from thick sycamore boards but pine and presumably other woods were also used. This spoon uses both; the upper part is sycamore and the almost square block on which it sits, is made of pine.
We have seen a number of spoons from this group carved with animal heads, (cats and rabbits), in a simple, one dimensional fashion, with round-headed metal studs for eyes. “Foxy” is most unusual in being entirely in the round.
Apart from the floret at the top of the column, the decoration is largely a combination of vigorously executed chip carving in a chevron pattern and a series of feather like incised lines which allow the focal point of the spoon, the carved and red painted figure of “Foxy”, to stand out.
Like many in this group, the finish appears to be a varnish of some sort which has “blistered” giving it its characteristic crusty surface.
Once part of the late Gerald Oliver’s personal collection, more examples of Welsh lovespoons can be found in museum collections across Wales:
