A Grace Cup (or Loving Cup) is a silver bowl or tankard with two handles that was traditionally passed round the table after

grace Grace may refer to: Places United States * Grace, Idaho, a city * Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois * Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office * Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninco ...

at all banquets in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. According to

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ''Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'', sometimes referred to simply as ''Brewer's'', is a reference work containing definitions and explanations of many famous phrases, allusions, and figures, whether historical or mythical. The "New Edit ...

, the Grace Cup is still seen at the Lord Mayor's feasts, at college, and occasionally in private banquets. Oxford's Oriel College possess Sanford and Heywood grace cups, dated 1654-55 and 1669–70 in its Buttery Plate collection. Nearby Balliol College also makes reference to the use of a Grace Cup which was discontinued in the early 20th century. 'Grace' cups were passed round when a traditional grace (a prayer of thanksgiving) was said to give thanks for the food eaten.

Robert Burton Robert Burton (8 February 1577 – 25 January 1640) was an English author and fellow of Oxford University, who wrote the encyclopedic tome ''The Anatomy of Melancholy''. Born in 1577 to a comfortably well-off family of the landed gentry, Burt ...

, in his ''Anatomy of Melancholy'' (1621) described their use as 'a corollary to conclude the feast and continue their mirth, a grace cup came in to cheer their hearts and they drank healths to one another again and again'. A good example is The Howard 'Grace' Cup.

Usage

The proper way of drinking the cup observed at the Lord Mayor's banquet or City companies' is to have a silver bowl with two handles and a napkin. Two persons stand up, one to drink and the other to defend the drinker. Having taken his draught, he wipes the cup with the napkin, and passes it to his "defender," when the next person rises to defend the new drinker. And so on to the end.Grace Cup

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ''Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'', sometimes referred to simply as ''Brewer's'', is a reference work containing definitions and explanations of many famous phrases, allusions, and figures, whether historical or mythical. The "New Edit ...
, 1898

References

* Ceremonial food and drink Drinkware {{drinkware-stub