Cup with cover

Hans van Amsterdam

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The exotic coconut, or "Indian nut" as it is called in Renaissance inventories, had been collected and displayed as an object of "miraculous powers" in the treasuries of pagan temples since Greek and Roman antiquity. These could be seen as predecessors of medieval church treasuries and later secular Kunstkammer and Wunderkammer. The coconut's curious form and obscure origin in faraway lands supported the idea of using the odd shell of the nut as a medicinal antidote. For instance, poisoned wine could be neutralized by drinking it from a coconut used as a cup, such as the example illustrated here. The carvings on this cup represent heroic themes from the Old Testament: Lot and his daughters, Samson and the Lion, and David with Bathsheba. All are mounted in silver gilt and decorated with grotesque herm figures, masks, and fruits. Latin inscriptions warn of the excessive appreciation of wine. Similar cup designs were popularized north of the alpine mountains in prints by Albrecht Altdorfer, Hans Brosamer, and Hieronymus Hopfer, among many others.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art