{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O117952"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O117952/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AD0687/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AD0687/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AD0687","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O117952","accessionNumber":"LOAN:KINGS NYMPTON C.1","objectType":"Communion cup","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This cup was used in Protestant worship to serve the consecrated wine during Holy Communion. \r\n\r\nDuring the Reformation there was a return to a simpler, more direct form of worship. Protestants rejected the Roman Catholic belief in ‘transubstantiation’, in which the bread and wine are miraculously transformed during the Mass into the body and blood of Christ, and proposed instead a symbolic service of shared communion. In this, the congregation would regularly take wine as well as bread, whereas before they had been chiefly spectators.\r\n\r\nTo consolidate this break with traditional religion, the church authorities launched a programme from about 1560 to replace the ‘old massing chalices’ with ‘decent’ communion cups of prescribed design. Although the new communion cups followed a standard model, there were regional variations. The inward curve of the rim of this example is typical of cups hallmarked at the Exeter assay office. John Jones made nearly two thirds of the cups that survive from Exeter.","physicalDescription":"Silver communion cup with engraved band of scrolling foliage around waist","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Jones, John","id":"A8558"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":"Exeter goldsmith John Jones (d. 1583) received a large portion of the work for the remaking of chalices into communion cups, in the productive years between 1575 and 1577. He amassed a substantial fortune by the time of his death. Both Jones and his apprentice Christopher Easton made some use of the date-letter system, but only sporadically, and on an informal basis. "}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silver","id":"AAT11029"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Silver; engraving","categories":[{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Religion","id":"THES48900"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2006AD0687"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"84","id":"THES49710"},"free":"","case":"CA6A","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES404796"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Communion cup","id":""}],[{"text":"cover (closure)","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Exeter","id":"x32797"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1574","earliest":"1569-01-01","latest":"1578-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Lent by Kingsnympton Parochial Church Council","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"17.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"9.12","unit":"cm","qualifier":"at widest point of slightly mishapen cup","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"of cup","note":""},{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"8.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"of base of cup","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"9.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"of paten cover","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"4.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"of paten cover ","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"243","unit":"g","qualifier":"of cup","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"79","unit":"g","qualifier":"of paten cover","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Stamped with maker's mark for John Jones (I IONS). ","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"The Reformation in England\r\nOn the eve of the Reformation, churchgoing in England was a colourful, sensory experience, rich in ceremony. In the 1530s, however, Henry VIII threw off the authority of the pope. Under his successor Edward VI (reigned 1547-53) major changes in worship and church decoration were introduced. \r\n\r\nEnglish Reformers wanted a return to a simpler, more direct form of worship. Their boldest move was to reject the Roman Catholic belief in 'transubstantiation', in which the bread and wine are miraculously transformed during the Mass into the body and blood of Christ. They proposed instead a symbolic service of shared communion, conducted in interiors stripped of distracting furnishings and images. The congregation would play an active role in the communion, regularly taking wine as well as bread, whereas before they had been chiefly spectators.\r\n\r\nCrown commissioners confiscated or destroyed much of the goldsmiths' work of the medieval church. Some parishes concealed or sold their silver before the commissioners arrived, but by the early 1550s, many were left with just a single cup and paten. Some churches had no precious metal at all.\r\n\r\nConsolidation\r\nThe success of the Reformation by 1600 owed much to an ingrained culture of obedience to the crown. During the brief reign of Mary I (1553-8) England returned to Catholicism, but under Elizabeth I it swung back to Protestantism, spurred on by state propaganda that Catholicism represented a political threat. Even so, this rupture with the past met with quiet resistance as many people were attached to the old faith and its trappings.\r\n\r\nTo consolidate this break with traditional religion, the church authorities launched a programme from about 1560 to replace the 'old massing chalices' with 'decent' communion cups of prescribed design. This gave a massive boost to the goldsmiths' trade and the great demand led to the formal establishment of assay offices outside London, at Chester, York, Norwich and Exeter. About 2000 communion cups from the period survive.","briefDescription":"Silver communion cup, made c.1574 in Exeter by John Jones","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"For historical context on plate produced in Exeter and the South West, see <u>Jackson's Silver & Gold Marks of England, Scotland & Ireland</u>, ed. by Ian Pickford. 3rd ed., revised and enlarged, Woodbridge, Suffolk, Antique Collector's Club, 1989. ISBN 0907462634, Chapter 10, pp.280-88"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Communion Cup\r\n\r\nThis cup was used in Protestant worship to serve the consecrated wine during Holy Communion. \r\n\r\nDuring the Reformation there was a return to a simpler, more direct form of worship. Protestants rejected the Roman Catholic belief in ‘transubstantiation’, in which the bread and wine are miraculously transformed during the Mass into the body and blood of Christ, and proposed instead a symbolic service of shared communion. In this, the congregation would regularly take wine as well as bread, whereas before they had been chiefly spectators.\r\n\r\nTo consolidate this break with traditional religion, the church authorities launched a programme from about 1560 to replace the ‘old massing chalices’ with ‘decent’ communion cups of prescribed design. Although the new communion cups followed a standard model, there were regional variations. The inward curve of the rim of this example is typical of cups hallmarked at the Exeter assay office. John Jones made nearly two thirds of the cups that survive from Exeter.\r\n\r\nExeter, England, about 1574; by John Jones\r\n(active 1555–1583/4). Silver\r\nOn loan from St James’ Parochial Church Council,\r\nKings Nympton, Devon","date":{"text":"22/11/2005","earliest":"2005-11-22","latest":"2005-11-22"}}],"partNumbers":["LOAN:KINGS NYMPTON C.1","LOAN:KINGS NYMPTON C.1:1"],"accessionNumberNum":"1","accessionNumberPrefix":"LOAN:KINGS NYMPTON C","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Communion cup","cover (closure)"],"assets":["2021MU8811"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-06-10","recordCreationDate":"2005-10-28","availableToBook":false}}