The Ducie Cup
The Ducie Cup
Place of OriginLondon, England
Date1584-1585
DimensionsH: 14 1/2 in. (36.8 cm); max W: 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm); diam of foot: 4 1/4 in. (11.8 cm)
weight: 34 oz 14 dwt (1,080 g)
weight: 34 oz 14 dwt (1,080 g)
Mediumgilded silver
ClassificationMetalwork
Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott
Object number
1964.52A-B
Not on View
DescriptionSilver gilded ostrich egg.
Label TextIn Europe beginning in the 1500s, princes, aristocrats, and wealthy merchants assembled collections representing a “theater of the universe:” the wonders of nature (naturalia) and the wonders of human creativity (artificialia). Such collections, called a “cabinet of curiosities” or kunstkamer (“art room”), often included European paintings and art objects; insects and shells; and art and artifacts from Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The size alone of an ostrich egg marked it for admiration, as did its faraway origin (across the southern Sahara in Africa). But when transformed by the skill of the goldsmith into a fanciful goblet, such a curiosity became doubly prized, combining the best aspects of both nature and humankind to represent “God’s natural order.”Published ReferencesW. J. Cripps, Old English Plate, London, 1926, p. 342.
Christie’s Review of the Year, London, 1959, p. 18.
Hermes, "The Taste for Tudor Silver," Apollo 76, Nov. 1962, p. 733, fig.1; illus. p. 19.
“Zibaldone delle Arte,” Antichita Viva 3, May 1964, p. 75.
Frank Davis, “Talking About Salesrooms,” Country Life 135 June 4, 1964, pp. 100-101,fig. 4.
“Treasures for Toledo,” Toledo Museum News n.s. 7, Winter 1964, p. 86.
Otto Wittmann, “Treasures at Toledo, Ohio” Apollo 81, no. 35, January 1965, p. 31.
“Chronique des Arts,” Gazette des Beaux Arts, no. 65, February 1965, p. 87.
Otto Wittmann, “Director’s Choice,” Apollo 86, no. 70, Dec. 1967, p. 511, fig. 6.
Souren Mélikian, “Big Shift in the Auction Room,” Realities 173, April 1965, p. 63.
John D. Morse, “Toledo, Ohio: Museum of Art,” McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Art 5, New York 1969, p. 330.
Judith Banister, “Silver-mounted wares,” Discovering Antiques 5, 1970, p. 108, illus. p. 107.
Clayton, Collectors Dictionary, 1971, p. 184, fig. 365.
Philippa Glanville, Silver in Tudor and Early Stuart England, London 1990, p. 325, fig. 192.
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 182-83, repr. (col.).
Reich, Paula, Rare and Wondrous: Birds in Art and Culture, 1620-1820, Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, 2021, p.14-15 [exh. catalogue].
Exhibition HistoryLondon, 22 Grosvenor Place, The Reign of Queen Elizabeth 1933, no. 21.Bristol, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, Loan Exhibition of Art Treasures of the West Country, May 25-July 10, 1937, no. 415.
about 15-30 CE
150-100 BCE
about 325-250 BCE
about 10-50 CE
metalwork, 1200-1225; rock crystal, 820-860
about 1640-1660
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