Coconut Cup
Hugh Kayle
1574–75
Object PlaceLondon, England
Medium/TechniqueCoconut shell with silver-gilt mounts
DimensionsH. 24 cm (9 7/16 in.); W. 17 cm (6 11/16 in.); Diameter (of rim) 10.5 cm (4 1/8 in.)
Credit LineAnonymous gift in memory of Charlotte Beebe Wilbour (1833-1914)
Accession number33.60
On View
On viewClassificationsSilver
Collections
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. An English silversmith added a cover, handle, and foot to transform this plain coconut into an elegant drinking vessel.
ProvenanceColonel Legh, High Legh Hall, Cheshire. March 22, 1906, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, lot 90, sold to Molineux. By 1928, Crichton Brothers, London; 1933, gift by anonymous donor in Memory of Charlotte Beebe Wilbour (1833–1914) to the MFA. (Accession Date: March 2, 1933)
about 1560–70
about 1300-1350 and 1541
