Early Georgian Coconut Wine Ladle with Niello & Gilded Silver Mounts (Azarpeshi)

This fine Caucasian azarpeshi ladle comprises a polished coconut shell for a bowl, with a gilded silver rim and gilded silver bands underneath the bowl with a raised niello roundel at the cross-section of those bands. The handle is of solid silver that has been engraved and decorated with bands of niello work and more gilding.

The underside of the handle has been lightly engraved with Georgian script. Probably, these are later ownership marks.

The form of the ladle is of traditional form with a circular, lipped shallow bowl and a long handle.

The ladle is relatively early. Its owner would have been wealthy – the silver mounts are testament to this but also so is the presence of coconut shell which would have been relatively rare and exotic at the time. The use of coconut shell in this manner is suggestive of Renaissance Europe when such shell was regarded as an exotic material to be treasured and displayed as an example of one’s wealth.

Ladles of this form were used to drink wine at large Georgian feasts such as those associated with weddings. Each drinker had his or her own ladle and the wine was ladled from a large communal bowl or vat to the mouth.

Each festival or feast had its own fixed, communal formula in terms of how it proceeded. The tamada or toast-master was the lead figure. He was required to propose toasts for all present, following strict rules of precedence. He also announced when there would be music, singing and dancing. Usually, the tamada was elected from among the most eloquent present.

Ladles of related form are illustrated in The Caucasian Peoples (2001, p. 161).

The example here is rare on account of the presence of coconut shell, early, and has a splendid patina with obvious age.