This silver spoon-shaped object with its twisted stem was used to clean the tongue of its owner. Tongue-scrapers were quite common in China in the old days. We believe that originally it was part of a grooming set as there is a short chain attached. The stem is decorated with a coin (Wealth). On the spoon is an engraving of stylized leaves. The stem is hallmarked but the mark has been partly rubbed off. On the back of the spoon is the name ‘Shi’ which may have been the maker or the shop selling this item. The scraper dates from the end of the Qing (1644 – 1912) to the early Republic period (1912 – 1947). Total length including chain 16.5 cm. Scraper: length 10.5 cm. Width 3.2 cm. Depth 0.3 cm.