Two-handled cup with cover

William Gilchrist

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This gold cup was a race prize won on August 16, 1753, by Mr. Robert Fenwick’s bay mare, which was provocatively named Lady’s Thigh. The prize of one hundred guineas was put up by the king, and though the usual trophy was a gold teapot, in this case the winner chose to have a cup made. The unusual wood handles may have been used so that the allotted gold would make a larger cup.

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