Ostrich Cup
1590–91
Medium
Ostrich egg and gilded silver
Dimensions
Cup: 21.3 × 13.5 cm (8 3/8 × 5 5/16 in.); Lid: 11.4 × 14.1 cm (4 1/2 × 5 9/16 in.); Overall: 32.4 × 14.2 cm (12 3/4 × 5 9/16 in.)
Classification
decorative object/ornament
Department
Applied Arts of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
198902
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This elegant cup was made in England in 1590. Its elaborate silver-gilt cover and stem enhance the surface of an unexpected material: an ostrich egg. Ostriches and their eggs were very rare in Europe at the time, and not much has changed—when the cup was sold to the Art Institute, it had to go before the British export review board to obtain a separate license for the egg itself, because ostriches are now an endangered species. Eighty years after the cup was made by John Spilman, Pieter Gerrits...