Court Coconut Cup, South German or Swiss, ca 1540-1560. Coconut; fire-gilt, chased and engraved copper. Height 26 cm © Kuntskammer Georg Laue

This coconut cup is characterised by an unusual form and décor, which are indicative of an early creation date around the middle of the 16th century. The stem of the cup consists of a thick gnarled trunk in an intertwined arborescent form. Fully plastic pomegranates grow out from the stem and the footplate is decorated with egg and dart ornaments. Portraits in profile have been engraved in the three round accents. The copper braces encasing the coconut are unusual on account of the three-dimensional carvings found in the middle of each of them, depicting the heads of women within laurel wreaths. The rim of the cup is engraved with a landscape scene showing a bear hunt in the forest. This scene is modelled after an engraving by Virgil Solis. On one side of the engraving, a hunter holding a spear can be identified charging directly at a bear accompanied by three dogs. On the other side, the hunter is shown standing next to the captive bear after the successful hunt.

The arborescent form of the cup’s stem decidedly indicates an early dating for this piece, for this feature was typical for goldsmithing practices in the middle of the 16th century. Yet similar coconut cups from the period of 1540-60 have only been preserved in rare cases. Noteworthy are the three coconut cups with arborescent stems found today in Cologne in the Museum für angewandte Kunst @makkoeln, in the Kunstkammer of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna @kunsthistorischesmuseumvienna and at the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin @staatlichemuseenzuberlin. The August Neresheimer Collection in Zurich also boasts another similar coconut cup with an arborescent-formed stem and comparable footplate, which is dated to 1536 and thereby confirms the early dating of the present artwork.

(3/3) Coconut vessels were already considered to be collectable objects in the Middle Ages. The ‘indian nut’ or ‘sea nut’, as it was once called, was very rare and particularly popular on into the 17th century. Medicinal as well as magical properties were imbued on this material and played an important role in Arabic medicinal practices as a remedy for various diseases. Since the Middle Ages, the coconut has also been believed to protect against poisoning: thus the Duc de Berry owned a coconut cup complete with an adder’s tongue. This combination apparently provided the owner with doubled protection against poisoned food and drink. This belief in the therapeutic and protective powers of the coconut explains why the nutshells were usually worked into drinking vessels. However, people of the 16th century considered coconut cups and beakers to be much more than vessels with protective qualities: in the context of the Kunstkammer, such precious coconut vessels were an example of man’s ability to transform a rare piece of naturalia into a precious artwork or artificialia. Such artificialia represented the core of a princely Kunstkammer collection.