Bowdoin College Homepage
Bowdoin College Museum of Art Logo and Wordmark

Advanced Search
Preview image of work. carved coconut shell on silver,  Coconut Cup 29502
IIIF Logo
2015.36.11

Recommend keywords

Help us make our collections more accessible by providing keywords to describe this artwork. The BCMA uses the Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus to provide consistent keywords. Enter a keyword in the field below and you will be prompted with a list of possible matching AAT preferred terms.

 
 

Coconut Cup

Export record as: Plain text | JSON | CDWA-Lite | VRA Core 4

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

Additional Image alternate side
alternate side
Additional Image side
side