Austrian Maiden Cup in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2020

Maiden Cup
ca. 1580


Object Details

Title: Maiden Cup

Date: ca. 1580

Culture: Austrian, Tyrol

Medium: Ceramic, alabaster, traces of paint

Dimensions: 9 1/16 × 3 15/16 in. (23 × 10 cm)

Classifications: vessels: figure vases, other special types

Credit Line: Kunstkammer, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna


Cups and automata like these two played a role in the drinking games popular during the Renaissance. The wide skirt of the alabaster figure turns into a cup when inverted; the contents had to be gulped down before the vessel could be placed back on the table. This form was later adapted to automata that could could shoot arrows, point, or—as in this example—simply stop in front of a guest. Depending on the rules of the game, the guest would then be required to redeem a pledge or deliver a clever toast, in either case emptying his or her cup.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/777993