Drinking Cup (Bratina)

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.

Provenance

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

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.