2015.36.11
Coconut Cup
Artist
Artist Unidentified (English or Dutch)
Title
Coconut Cup
Creation Date
ca. 1620
Century
early 17th century
Dimensions
10 1/2 x 4 1/2 in. (26.67 x 11.43 cm)
Object Type
silver
Creation Place
Europe, United Kingdom or Netherlands
Medium and Support
carved coconut shell on silver
Credit Line
Gift of Walter G. Gans, Class of 1957
Copyright
Public Domain
Accession Number
2015.36.11
This cup on its tall footed stem is a typical seventeenth-century form but made of rare materials secured through European exploration, trade, and colonization. Coconuts were such exotic fruit in early Europe that their shells were treasured and converted into elegant drinking vessels. With the scenes engraved on the shell of a couple dining, a woman feeding pigs, and a man departing on horseback, images of daily European life are paired with costly, foreign materials.
Additional Media
alternate side
side