Bowl of a Drinking Cup in the Cloisters, June 2011

Bowl of a Drinking Cup

Date: late 12th century

Geography: Made in England or Scandinavia

Culture: British or Scandinavian

Medium: Silver, silver gilt, and niello

Dimensions: Overall: 3 1/8 x 6 7/8 in. (7.9 x 17.5 cm)

Classification: Metalwork-Silver

Credit Line: The Cloisters Collection, 1947

Accession Number: 47.101.31

Label:

With its lively nude male figures and dragons entwined in foliage, this bowl was likely a part of a secular drinking cup rather than a ciborium (a vessel that holds the Host) or a chalice for use in the Mass, as was once thought. Between the principle compartments inhabited by the nude figures and dragons are smaller areas with basilisks. The heads of the men and beasts are in high relief, and the bands between the compartments and the palmette frieze below the rim are crisply rendered. The decoration of the bowl has parallels in twelfth-century English art, but similar pieces have also been found in Sweden. This example was discovered near the Ob' River in Siberia, an indication of how objects in Middle Ages sometimes circulated far from their place of manufacture.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/471268