ECS-S.1-2014
Parts
Object number
ECS-S.1-2014
Object type
Identification
Title
Coconut Cup
Description
Silver-gilt and coconut cup; rim mount engraved with text, coconut held by three decorated straps, on a silver-gilt foot
Comments
‘Pride of place must go to the Coconut Cup, which is the item that has been longest in the College Silver Collection. It was presented some time around 1500 and figured in the inventory of 1550, when it had a cover, now lost. The donor was probably John Edmunds, Fellow and Bursar of Eton 1491-98, who died in the late 1520s. The coconut is mounted in silver supported by three strips of Gothic foliage, each containing a medallion originally enamelled. Around the silver rim is inscribed ‘ex. Dono. Mri. Johis. Edmonds. Theologie. Professoris. Quondam. Socii. Hui. Collgii.’. Coconuts were regarded in the Middle Ages as the eggs of fabulous monsters and were also thought to have medicinal powers, hence their mounting in precious settings.’
[Source: ‘Treasures of Eton’, James Douglas Rutherford McConnell, 1976, p.66]
'John Edmonds was elected Fellow of Eton College in 1491 , and seems to be the same person as the John Edmonds who was Chancellor of St. Paul's, London, from 1517 to 1529. The date of the cup is probably about 1510.'
[Source: 'An Illustrated History of English Plate, Ecclesiastical and …', 1911, p.648]
[Source: ‘Treasures of Eton’, James Douglas Rutherford McConnell, 1976, p.66]
'John Edmonds was elected Fellow of Eton College in 1491 , and seems to be the same person as the John Edmonds who was Chancellor of St. Paul's, London, from 1517 to 1529. The date of the cup is probably about 1510.'
[Source: 'An Illustrated History of English Plate, Ecclesiastical and …', 1911, p.648]
Other number
1
Description
Dimensions
height (actual size): 200mm
Inscription
Pounced lettering around the band: 'Ex.dono.mri.Johis.Edmons.theologie.Professoris.quondum.socii.hui.collegii.'
Material
silver
coconut
coconut
Physical description
Coconut enclosed in a silver gilt framework of three jointed straps of gothic foliage, on a plain circular foot.
The circular bosses on the body straps were once enamelled.
Bands of hatched 'V' shaped ornament top and base.
The circular bosses on the body straps were once enamelled.
Bands of hatched 'V' shaped ornament top and base.
Production
Date
c. 1500-1525
History and association
Object history note
Provenance: Presented to Eton College by John Edmonds [Edmunds] (elected a fellow of Eton in 1491)
Previous ownership
References
• Jones, E. Alfred, The Plate of Eton College, The London Saint Catherine Press, 1938 (p.1 and frontispiece)
