{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O118310"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O118310/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BA1467/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BA1467/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BA1467","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AU1846","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O118310","accessionNumber":"LOAN:BLETCHINGLEY.1","objectType":"Communion cup","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This cup was used in Protestant worship to serve the consecrated wine during Holy Communion. It follows the standard design for Elizabethan communion cups.\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, such as this.","physicalDescription":"Communion cup","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Silver","id":"AAT11029"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Silver","categories":[{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"},{"text":"Religion","id":"THES48900"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2006BA1467","2006AU1846"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"84","id":"THES49710"},"free":"","case":"CA6A","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Communion Cup","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1568–1569","earliest":"1568-05-19","latest":"1569-05-18"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Lent by St. Mary the Virgin Church, Bletchingley, Surrey","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"172","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"89","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"of cup","note":""},{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"78","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"of base","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"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, London hallmarks for 1568-9, mark unidentified.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Cooper, Rev. T.S. <u>The Church Plate of Surrey</u>. London: Roworth and Co. Ltd., for The Surrey Archaeological Society, 1902."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"5-6. Two Communion Cups and Patens\r\nBoth these cups were made by London goldsmiths, but only the Bletchingley one (5) has followed the new, prescribed form.\r\n5. London, England, 1568-9, maker's mark 'A' in a shield. Silver\r\nOn loan from St Mary the Virgin Church, Bletchingley, Surrey.","date":{"text":"2008","earliest":"2008-01-01","latest":"2008-12-31"}},{"text":"Two Communion Cups and Patens\r\nThis cup was used in Protestant worship to serve the consecrated wine during Holy Communion. It follows the standard design for Elizabethan communion cups.\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\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, such as this. \r\nLondon, England, 1568–9; maker’s mark ‘A’ in\r\na shield. Silver\r\nOn loan from St Mary the Virgin church,\r\nBletchingley, Surrey","date":{"text":"22/11/2005","earliest":"2005-11-22","latest":"2005-11-22"}}],"partNumbers":["LOAN:BLETCHINGLEY.1"],"accessionNumberNum":"1","accessionNumberPrefix":"LOAN:BLETCHINGLEY","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2016JG6454"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-01-29","recordCreationDate":"2005-11-08","availableToBook":false}}