Doe and Hope

Description

The coconut cup of beautiful patina and colour, having a well-proportioned bowl with turned lid and draught turned base, to a knop finial, and surviving from George III period England.

The piece is intact and complete, though there is a small hairline crack to the cup, one small bit of loss to the cover rim and one small piece of loss to the stem as photographed. It is not unstable in any way. These aside there are no other losses or condition issues and the colour of the treen is superb.

A coconut cup is a variety of standing cup, made and used in Western Europe in the 15th and 16th Centuries, with a revival in Georgian England. Beginning in the thirteenth century, mounted coconut cups were highly prized in Europe, partly because it was believed that drinking from a coconut was beneficial to one's health.

It is probable that the earliest standing cups referred to as hanaps had turned wood (mazer-like) bowls with covers. Later ones have bowls formed of silver or of a coconut or ostrich egg with silver mounts. Cups with coconut bowls mounted in silver or silver-gilt and raised on a stem and foot, or multiple feet, were fashionable rareties in Western Europe in the late 15th century and throughout the 16th century. They were revived for a short period nearly three centuries later, which is when this piece would have been made.

A tactile, useful and beautifully crafted piece.