When two silver trullae, ladles, were found near Nuestra Señora de Tiermes (Soria), they earned the site the name of "the land of the cups." Twenty years later, Huntington acquired these trullae for the Hispanic Society where they comprise a notable part of the museum's collection of Roman antiquities.

Such ladles were common in the Roman world. Although the use of the trullae illustrated here cannot be established, both their structure and decoration are consistent with those designed for religious rites. The two form a pair, with the slightly smaller one nesting within the other, while the decoration on the handles face each other in a mirror image. The fine quality of the animals and masks on these ornamental bands attests to the artist's skill in metalwork. On the reverse are inscriptions. The first "GN [aeus] CARVICI[us]" may refer to the owner. The second inscription in smaller letters runs in the opposite direction and parallel to the first; of this only eight letters are legible: MARI.LATA, referring possibly to the silversmith who made the pieces or to a subsequent owner.