SOLD Antique 18th century European silver-mounted coconut cup and cover. A coconut carved body with a circular rim, pierced work handles with leaf-form supports, resting on a silver domed foot, decorated in repoussé foliate scrollwork, a domed cover, decorated en suite with the base in repoussé foliate scrollwork design, with a finial cast as a Cupid shooting an arrow with a bow, the mounts apparently unmarked.
DIMENSIONS: Height: 13 cm (5 1/8 in). Width across the handles: 10.5 cm (4 1/8 in).
Coconuts, while commonplace objects in their native lands, were highly prized and rare objects in Europe. When they first arrived in Europe is not certain, however in 1259 a Bishop of Durham noted, 'cyphum de nuce cum ped et apparatu argenti'. Throughout the following centuries there are further mentions and by the 16th -18th century they regularly appear in the silver inventories of the nobility.
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