This richly mounted 'Grace' Cup would have been passed around the dinner table after prayers had been said. It is a survivor from the English Tudor Court. The ivory bowl is said to have belonged to

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then as Archbishop of Canterbury fr ...

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

, who was murdered in his cathedral in 1170. Such relics of England's favourite saint were treasured until the

English Reformation The English Reformation began in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away first from the authority of the pope and bishops Oath_of_Supremacy, over the King and then from some doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church ...

. When the gilded silver mounts were commissioned in 1525, the engraver was instructed to incorporate the initials of TB and a mitre on the cover. These alternate with the pomegranate badge of

Catherine of Aragon Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, historical Spanish: , now: ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England as the Wives of Henry VIII, first wife of King Henry VIII from their marr ...

. The cup was said to have been bequeathed to the queen by

Sir Edward Howard Sir Edward Howard (1476/1477 – 25 April 1513) was an English naval officer. He was the first of the Howards to win fame as an admiral, participating in his first naval battle while in his teens. He was in command during the Battle of Saint ...

(d. 1513), High Admiral to Henry VIII. The vital role played by prints in the dissemination of Renaissance styles to Northern Europe is revealed in some of the ornamentation on the cup which, like Henry VIII's writing desk, derives from the work of

Hans Burgkmair Hans Burgkmair the Elder (1473–1531) was a German painter and woodcut printmaker. Background Hans Burgkmair was born in Augsburg, the son of painter Thomas Burgkmair. His own son, Hans the Younger, later became a painter as well. From 1488, Bu ...

. The cast marks and sheaves taken from an

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...

by the artist are the earliest example of Renaissance influence in English goldsmiths' work. After Catherine of Aragon's death in 1536 the cup was returned to the

Howard family The Howard family is an English noble family Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has of ...

, who were renowned both as devout

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

s and as art collectors. It descended through successive generations of the family until it was bought by the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

in 1931.

Bibliography

*{{cite book, editor=Jackson, Anna, title= V&A: A Hundred Highlights, publisher=V&A Publications, year=2001 Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum Silver-gilt objects Individual drinking vessels