{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O128862"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O128862/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BT3104/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BT3104/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2008BT3104","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KB4938","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O128862/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O128862","accessionNumber":"M.880-1926","objectType":"Cup","titles":[{"title":"Font Cup","type":""}],"summaryDescription":"This plain copper alloy cup, orginally gilded, imitates silver-gilt versions and is, in its form, a standing bowl, which would originally have had a cover. Throughout the Middle ages and into the Renaissance, prestige lay in the ownership and display of gold and silver drinking vessels.Large cups like this were used on formal  occasions for ceremonial toasts and thanksgiving, and were displayed on buffets when not in use. Cups might be treasured as heirlooms, which accounts for many that survive. At banquets, cups marked the status of the chief guest and the drinking of wine was generally a ritualised ceremony. \r\n This cup, in the form of a standing bowl, would originally have had a cover.This shape of cup seems to appear around 1500, and was known as a 'flatpece'. Its shallow wide bowl and robust, simple design has led such cups to be referred to in modern literature as 'font cups'. By the mid-16th century the shape had evolved  into the shallow bowls popular in much of northern Europe. A number of font cups were later used in English churches as communion cups and patens.\r\nThis cup is of gilt copper alloy, although much of the gilding has been rubbed away. Traces survive under the trumpet shaped foot. The gilding was applied using the dangerous technique of mercury gilding: a mixture of gold powder and mercury was mixed into a paste and painted onto the surface before the mercury was burned off. Ordinances issued by the Goldsmiths' Company of London in the late 14th century forbade the gilding of base metal objects that might be passed off as gold but this was often ignored.","physicalDescription":"Circular standing cup of copper alloy, cast, standing on a wide stepped conical base, the bowl shallow with steep sides, the outside of the bowl engraved '+NOLI. INEBRIari.VINO.QUO.EST. LVxv RIA. x'. There are remain of gilding on the inside of the base as well as three old collector's labels: \"Col Lyons\"' \"640\", \"L\".","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"bronze","id":"AAT10957"}],"techniques":[{"text":"casting","id":"AAT53104"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Bronze, cast and engraved, formerly gilt","categories":[{"text":"Drinking","id":"THES48965"},{"text":"Food vessels & Tableware","id":"THES48952"},{"text":"Household objects","id":"THES48939"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2008BT3104","2017KB4938"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"10A (VA)","id":"THES49098"},"free":"","case":"3","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Cup","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""},{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x39722"},"note":"probably"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1500-1520","earliest":"1500-01-01","latest":"1520-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Lt. Col. G. B. Croft-Lyons Bequest","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"13.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"15.0","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"bowl","note":""},{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"13.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"base","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"1","unit":"kg","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Measured for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"+NOLI.INEBRIARI.VINO.QUO.EST. LVXVRIA","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"This is a quotation from the Bible, Ephesians chapter V,verse 18"}],"objectHistory":"The cup came to the Museum as part of the Croft Lyons Bequest in 1926. Colonel Croft Lyons was an early member of the Pewter Society (founded in 1918) and an avid collector of ceramics, furniture, textiles and base metalwork. His bequest added over 700 pieces of metalwork to the collection including large collections of brass and pewter.\n\nHistorical significance: The Latin  inscription,though derived from the Bible, may be ironically intended","historicalContext":"Throughout the Middle ages and into the Renaissance, prestige lay in the ownership and display of gold and silver drinking vessels.Large cups like this were used on formal  occasions for ceremonial toasts and thanksgiving, and were displayed on buffets when not in use. Cups might be treasured as heirlooms, which accounts for many that survive. At banquets, cups marked the status of the chief guest and the drinking of wine was generally a ritualised ceremony. \r\n\r\nThis plain copper alloy cup, orginally gilded, imitates silver-gilt versions and is, in its form, a standing bowl, which would originally have had a cover. This shape of cup seems to appear around 1500, and was known as a 'flatpece'. Its shallow wide bowl and robust, simple design has led such cups to be referred in modern literature as 'font cups'. By the mid-16th century the shape had evolved  into the shallow bowls popular in much of northern Europe. A number of font cups were later used in English churches as communion cups and patens.\r\n\r\nMuch of the gilding on the cup has been rubbed away. Traces survive under the trumpet shaped foot. The gilding was applied using the dangerous technique of mercury gilding: a mixture of gold powder and mercury was mixed into a paste and painted onto the surface before the mercury was burned off. Ordinances issued by the Goldsmiths' Company of London in the late 14th century forbade the gilding of base metal objects like this, that might then be passed off as gold, but this was often ignored.\r\n\r\nToday this cup is exceptionally rare, since most other copper examples have been melted down.","briefDescription":"Circular standing cup, bronze, formerly gilt, England, ca. 1500-1525","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Haedeke, Hanns-Ulrich, <u>Metalwork</u>, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London, 1970, p. 21, illustrated in colour opposite p. 48"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Schiffer, Peter, Nancy and Herbert, <u>The Brass Book: American, English and European Fifteenth Century through 1850</u>, Schiffer Publishing Ltd, Exton, Pennsylvania, 1978, p. 366, B (illustrated)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries</u>, 13 May 1909, Proc S.A.L. 2S. xxii. 506"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Glanville, P.G., <u>Silver in Tudor and early Stuart England: A Social History and Catalogue of the National Collection</u>, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1990, Chapter 12"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"John Blair and Claude Blair, ' Copper alloys', pp. 81-106 in <u> English medieval industries </u>, ed. John Blair and Nigel Ramsay, London 1991"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Marian Campbell, ' The table and feasting', pp. 310-11, and fig. 115, in <u> Gothic: art for England 1400 - 1547</u>, ed. Richard Marks and Paul Williamson,V&A exhibition, London 2003"}],"production":"Compares in style to 'The Campion Cup', hallmarked 1500-01, V&A, M.249-1924","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["M.880-1926"],"accessionNumberNum":"880","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":1926,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LR0832","2019LT7327","2019LW3095","2021MV7572"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-11-13","recordCreationDate":"2006-10-31","availableToBook":false}}