ABSTRACT
ATTITUDES to silver have remained constant for at least five centuries. Par excellence it was the gift for one’s king, one’s patron, one’s brotherhood, the parish church, the local hero and one’s heirs; and always a cup was the first choice. In 1478, when the Goldsmiths’ Company elected to make two cups from the diets or sample scrapes taken by their assayer they were deliberately enhancing the dignity of their court dinners. In the lotteries popular between the 1560s and the early eighteenth century cups were always prominent among race prizes, and the milkmaids parading in their finery on Mayday crowned their headdresses with two-handled cups (Fig. 124).
