Coconut Cup with Biblical Scenes from the Life of David
1577–1578
- Medium
- Gilded silver and coconut shell
- Dimensions
- 22.9 × 11.2 × 11.6 cm (9 × 4 3/8 × 4 9/16 in.)
- Genre
- Silver
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Tags
metalworkeuropean decorative artsengraving (incising)repousséchasingsilverplant materialmetallizingnut (plant material)inorganic materialFruitnonferrous metaldecorative artsgildingmetal
About
Coconuts, a precious curio from the New World, were so highly prized in Europe during the early modern era that they were fashioned into elegant vessels by silversmiths. They made noteworthy additions to princely curiosity cabinets and may also have served a medicinal purpose. John Parkinson’s Theatrum Botanicum (1640), for instance, credits wine drunk from a coconut with curing colic, epilepsy, and rheumatoid disorders.