Rusper Chalice
- Gallery: Room 40
- Culture: Late Medieval
- Made in: Limoges (?); England (?)
- Date: 1200 (circa)
- Object type: chalice
- Materials: copper alloy; enamel; gold
- Museum number: 1996,0610.1
- 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
This is the Rusper Chalice, a small but exquisite piece of medieval craftsmanship. It has a hemispherical bowl and a foot of the same size, connected by a short stem with a milled knop. Look closely, and you'll see the bowl is decorated with four bust-length figures—Christ blessing and three angels—each holding a book, set inside semicircular fields. Between them, a large blossom adds a floral touch, while stylised flowers fill the spandrels below.
The foot also carries four similar figures—saints, again with books—showing a consistent design across the piece. The colors include white, yellow, green, turquoise, two blues, red, and pink, all set into copper with intricate enameling. This work is believed to come from a Limoges workshop active in England around the year 1200. It was discovered near Horsham, in Sussex, and its fine enamelling reveals how advanced medieval artistry could be.
See it in person
Rusper Chalice is on display in Room 40 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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