Provocative Objects: The Cosmetic Spoon

Provocative Objects / Spaces

10 December, 2025 -

The spoon is such a simple object. A stem designed to be held and a bowl designed to contain. But how it is held, what it can hold, and for what purpose is almost infinite in possibility. At its most elemental, the spoon is an object of care, its essential function to provide nurture and nutrition. “Use me to feed yourself, your loved ones, many others.” The object demonstrates how, how early, and how often humans have employed the practices of design to create objects that connect us to others. 

The Cosmetic Spoon

The word spoon derives from the Germanic or Old English word “spon” meaning “chip of wood,” which certainly suggests the origins of its production and materiality; but perhaps more useful for our purposes is the Scandinavian use of the word “spon” for “shaving,” its cosmetic purpose being implied. It is in this context that we cast our eyes on the delicate and sublime Spoon with falcon on the handle (Image 1, ca. 3300-3100 BCE, predynastic Naqada III), an object whose purpose is to facilitate cosmetic ritual rather than alimental routine. 

Carved from ivory (either hippopotamus or elephant), the presence of two seams suggests that the object, at 30.3 cm long, was carved as three pieces (of varying sizes) and joined using a strong resin adhesive. Starting at the tapered end of the stem, the first segment is the longest and emerges from its taper to form a cylinder of approximately 1 cm. It is joined at around 10 cm to the slightly shorter, center segment, which increases very slightly in diameter around the center point, then decreases again slightly to join with the bowl segment. Just beyond this second seam, where stem meets with bowl, sits an ornament in the shape of a falcon – tail facing taper, beak touching bowl. The bowl resembles a tulip shape at the rim, around 4.3 cm wide and 2 cm high, with gently sloping sides forming a cavity that mimics the shape of a human palm, scooped as if to receive an offering.

The object looks quite delicate but that appearance clearly belies its physical and spiritual resilience. 

While scholarship has yet to definitively determine this cosmetic spoon’s purpose - whether designed for daily ritual, the afterlife, or possibly both – it is clear that cosmetic spoons facilitated intimate acts of care (El-Kilany and Raoof, 2017). In life, such an object provided the means by which a woman or man of status was adorned with kohl, aided by a servant who might grind and powder the mineral (malachite or galena) that was stored in dedicated kohl pots, add the unguent (possibly linseed, caster bean, frankincense, moringa, belanos, or olive oil) from its own unique vessel, and mix it all on the spoon from which it would be applied to the eyes, conferring to the face both beauty and health as the combination of mineral and oil were used to protect the face and eyes from the elements, including the bright sun and dry heat, as well as from spiritual evils (Markoe & Capel, 1996).

The appearance of the falcon – a seminal god in Ancient Egyptian belief systems – suggests the object’s spiritual import. Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris, served as the link between death and rebirth. After the brutal murder and mutilation of Osiris by his brother Seth, who sought the power of Osiris’s crown, Isis brought his body to the Nile to bathe it, wrap it in bandages, and bring it back to life. Through her act of care for his body, Isis was able to procreate with Osiris and bring to life their son, Horus, who serves as a spiritual bridge between life and death. The falcon is therefore a manifestation of both physical and spiritual care, and his visage appears in Ancient Egypt in the shape of the Eye of Horus (the wadjet), or the shape the eye takes when adorned with kohl (Bos, 2019). 

As funerary objects, cosmetic spoons are ubiquitous in tombs of the period as they accompanied their keeper into the next spiritual realm alongside kohl pots, unguent vases, and mirrors (Image 2). In the hieroglyphic record, archaeologists have deciphered the eye glyph as “beauty” itself (Betro, 1996). The eye as the embodiment of beauty. And so the Spoon with falcon on the handle mediates the act of beautifying, is itself the representation of beauty in the emblematic use of the falcon, and in its sublime design speaks the language of beauty.

Intimacy and Care

Easily underappreciated in a cursory viewing of Spoon with falcon on the handle is the intimacy of the object. The spoon mediates the close distance between caregiver and recipient, finger to spoon to eye. Perhaps, though, one could read the length of the stem of this cosmetic spoon to be designed for intentional distance – that 30.3 cm an intentional arms-length. Instead, though, imagine holding the stem not in the way you might hold a spoon to eat but rather in a gesture that approximates the holding of a baby, with the stem nestled into the crook of the arm by the elbow, bowl in the palm of the hand, and the arm held close to the body. In this gesture, the spoon arm crosses the heart as the caregiver reaches with the open hand to pass unguent and kohl from spoon bowl – at the heart center - to skin. While there is no evidence to support this more nuanced interpretation of the object’s use, allowing the form to speak to us might reveal this more intimate gestural embodiment. 

In a hierarchical society, as Ancient Egypt was, the act of care suggested by the cosmetic spoon cannot be presumed to be selfless. In fact, the spoon may have been an object designed to instantiate class division as it was used by a servant to provide care to a person of higher status. And yet, in its design, it reminds us of the ways in which humans have perpetuated acts of intimate care by design. 

The spoon as catalyst of life and health, whether food or cosmetic adornment, carries with it an eternally, spiritually loving purpose. In its design, it reminds us of the ways in which humans have perpetuated acts of intimate care—even across hierarchies of power.

 

References

Betrò, M. C., & Betrò, M. C. (1996). Hieroglyphics: the writings of ancient Egypt (1. ed). Abbeville Pr.

Bos, J. (2019). Paint it, black: a biography of kohl containers. BLKVLD.

Capel, A. K., & Markoe, G. (1997). Mistress of the House, Mistress of Heaven: women in Ancient Egypt. Hudson Hills press.

El-Kilany, E., & Raoof, E. (2017). Facial cosmetics in ancient Egypt. Egyptian Journal of Tourism Studies, Vol.16(No. 1).

Facial_Cosmetics_in_Ancient_Egypt_By.pdf. (n.d.).

Tyldesley, J. A. (2019). Nefertiti’s face: the creation of an icon. Profile Books.

Wilfong, T. G. (1997). Women and Gender in Ancient Egypt: From Prehistory to Late Antiquity : an Exhibition at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. Kelsey Museum of Archaeology.

 

Jennifer Rittner is Assistant Professor of Strategic Design and Management and Assistant Dean for Curriculum and Learning at Parsons School of Design. Her research considers design pedagogies that critique the intersections of design and power, as well as design education in K12 that leverages opportunities for young people of color to envision their futures in design professions. Among her publications are Crafted Kinship: Inside the Creative Practices of Contemporary Black Caribbean Makers (Editor, 2024), “David Klein’s New York” in Wonder City of the World: New York City Travel Posters (2024), The Black Experience in Design: Identity, Expression, & Reflection (Developmental Editor, 2022), and  “The Policing Issue” of Design Museum Magazine (2021). Jennifer has worked for a number of design and design-adjacent institutions including Pentagram, Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning, and the AIGA. She earned her B.A. from the Gallatin School, New York University and her M.Ed. from Teachers College, Columbia University.

 

Started by the DHS Ambassadors in 2022, the Design History Society's Provocative Objects and Places blog looks at spaces and objects that challenge and confront us as design historians. We invite submissions for guest blog posts from students, early career researchers, and established academics to those with a general interest in design history. Posts can be on any object or place from any era, anywhere in the world, which in some way encourages discussion and debate. Posts should be 500-800 words, accompanied by at least one image with associated credits and clearances, and a short bio. Please contact the DHS Senior Administrator, Dr Jenna Allsopp-Douglas, for more information.