We reported in Vidimus 76 that the British Museum had acquired the Lacock Cup, a breathtakingly rare masterwork by an unknown silversmith.
Fig. 1. Scene from panel 3d of the East Window at the church of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling, Norfolk, CVMA Picture Archive.
Fig. 2. The Lacock Cup.
The cup, which is simple in design and similar to one depicted in the east window of the Church of St Peter and St Paul in East Harling (Norfolk), in a scene showing the wedding at Cana [Fig. 1], was made in the fifteenth century and has been used throughout history as both a feasting cup and a holy chalice. As most medieval cups of this type were destroyed, the Lacock Cup is a rarity, having survived both the Reformation and the English Civil War.
This year, the cup [Fig.2] will be exhibited on a ‘Spotlight Tour’, and Salisbury Museum will be the first of five venues to host it. The exhibition at Salisbury Museum is entitled ‘Secular to Sacred: The Story of the Lacock Cup’ and aims to explore the rich context surrounding the Lacock Cup, in particular its secular and sacred associations, and the historic shifts it encountered. The cup will be shown alongside objects from Salisbury Museum’s own collection and important comparison pieces loaned exclusively for this show.
The exhibition opens on 31 January and runs until Monday 4 May 2015. For more information, visit the Salisbury Museum website.
