Double standing cup
- Gallery: Room 2a
- Maker: Hans Brabant
- Made in: Nuremberg
- Date: 1550 (circa)
- Object type: double standing cup
- Materials: silver
- Museum number: WB.110
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
In front of you is a Double Standing Cup by Hans Brabant, made in Nuremberg around 1550. This elegant silver-gilt piece features two cups joined together—one fits inside the other—each decorated with intricate designs. The vertical lips boast swirling, etched borders, and just below them are twelve bosses. Among these are small relief carvings of classical deities: on one cup you’ll find Jupiter, Venus with Cupid, and Mercury; on the other, Saturn, Mars, and Diana.
Look closely at the etched patterns and reliefs, which reflect the Renaissance love for classical mythology and symbolism. The craftsmanship includes detailed relief work, gilding, and a fine balance between symmetry and decoration. This double standing cup was not only a luxurious object but may have held symbolic meaning as a wedding gift—two separate parts joined as one.
See it in person
Double standing cup is on display in Room 2a at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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