Caudle cup

European floral imagery, enriched by the addition of cherubs, is seen on this caudle cup as chased (or hammered) decoration. The high quality of this ornament suggests that it was the work of a London-trained craftsman in John Coney's shop. The cup was made for John and Mary (Brattle) Mico, perhaps at the time of their marriage in 1689. Caudle, a warm ceremonial drink of sack or another type of wine mixed with eggs, bread, spices, and sugar, was considered suitable for such occasions as weddings and baptisms, during which the cup was passed from hand to hand by the handles.The cup eventually descended to Oliver Wendell Holmes, the famed Boston physician and writer. In 1848, Holmes penned the poem "On Lending a Punch-Bowl" as a romantic tribute to his family's "ancient silver bowl," which he describes as the work of an "Antwerp smith," brought to Plymouth on the Mayflower. This charming but mistaken notion is understandable given the cup's superb workmanship and European-style imagery, and the fact that early American silver was not well understood at the time. After tracing the cup's history, Holmes concludes:I love the memory of the past,-its pressed yet flagrant flowers,-The moss that clothes its broken walls, -the ivory in its towers;-Nay, this poor bawble it bequeathed,-my eyes grown moist and dim,To think of all the vanished joys that danced around its brim.Such nostalgic sentiments, expressed with greater frequency as the nineteenth century progressed, served to stimulate the collecting of "Americana" that continues unabated today.This text was adapted from Ward, et al., MFA Highlights: American Decorative Arts & Sculpture (Boston, 2006) available at www.mfashop.com/mfa-publications.html.