Drinking Cup (Bratina)

Description Drinking cups like this one, called a "bratina" in Russian, were passed around at ceremonail banquets. They were usually made of gilded silver, but ours has been fashioned from a coconut shell. An exotic fruit in Northern Europe, coconuts were highly prized during the 17th century and often mounted in silver.

Exhibitions

• Russian Art: Icons and Decorative Arts from the Origin to the Twentieth Century. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1959-1960.
• World of Wonder. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1971-1972.
• Russian Enamels. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1996-1997.
• Fabergé and the Russian Crafts Tradition: An Empire's Legacy . The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2017-2018.

Provenance Countess Luibov Aleksandrovna Musina-Pushkina (born Kusheleva-Bezborodko), Saint Petersburg, prior to 1904, by purchase; Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Polovtsov (Alexandre Polovtsoff), Saint Petersburg and Paris [date of acquisition unknown], by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, [date of acquisition unknown] by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters