Coconut Cup with Old Testament Scenes

Objects of curiosity, coconuts from Africa or the East Indies were often turned into cups with silver mounts. The inscription in Dutch, "Drunkenness is the root of all evil," accompanies Old Testament scenes of Susanna threatened by the Elders, Delilah cutting Samson's hair, and Lot with his daughters, all involving succumbing to temptation. Other inscriptions announce that Cornelis de Bye carved the coconut and that his daughter Nelltgen had it mounted to commemorate his death, adding a further rhyme celebrating the bee's (Bye's) creation of pure honey through the love of God.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

George Robinson Harding, London [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.