Bottoms-up cup or stirrup cup (Sturzbecher)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Clay enabled a spontaneity of modeling impossible for goldsmiths; stoneware objects could be made quickly and at a fraction of the cost of metal ones. The potter turned this vessel on a wheel to manipulate its basic form, pressing on the separately made head, arms, and other details; the glaze was applied so hastily its trickles are discernable. Traditionally, a departure would be marked by a farewell or Godspeed toast drunk in honor of Saint Gertrude, patron of travelers. "Bottoms-up" (or stirrup) cups are associated with this ceremony. With no base to be set down upon, they are intended to be used on horseback and the liquid downed in a gulp. [Elizabeth Cleland, 2017]

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