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Collections

Unidentified artists
Coconut-Shell Cup (Coco chocolatero)17th-18th century

Not on view
Two-handled cup with a dark engraved coconut shell body mounted in silver, with cornucopia handles, beaded bands, and a splayed silver pedestal foot
Carved coconut shell cup mounted in silver, with engraved scrollwork on the body, a beaded silver band at the rim, leaf-form silver foot, and ornate silver handles in the form of cornucopias with floral and laurel garland details.
Close-up detail of a silver vessel handle featuring an openwork design with a cornucopia motif, leafy branches, and a border of small repousséflowers, attached to an engraved silver body.
Artist or Maker
Unidentified artists
Title
Coconut-Shell Cup (Coco chocolatero)
Place Made
Mexico or Guatemala
Date Made
17th-18th century
Medium
Polished and engraved coconut shell and silver
Dimensions
5 1/4 × 4 3/4 × 2 1/2 in. (13.3 × 12.1 × 6.4 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Ronald A. Belkin, Long Beach, California, in memory of Charles B. Tate
Accession Number
M.2015.69.2
Classification
Furnishings
Collecting Area
Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes

Coconut-shell cups were luxury items used for drinking hot chocolate. Cacao beans and chocolate beverages played an important role in Aztec and Maya rituals, and were mostly consumed by members of the nobility. By the seventeenth century, coconut-shell cups, used for drinking hot chocolate, were ubiquitous in the homes of viceregal society. The Spanish penchant for the precious elixir made these artifacts highly desirable exports. Many were fitted with silver bases and handles, and some were embellished with inscriptions identifying their owners, as this example that includes an inscription on the rim: "Sirvo a Doña Manuela Batres" ("I serve Doña Manuela Batres”). Although chocolate was native to the Americas, the coconut palm was introduced to Mexico from Asia in the sixteenth century.


From exhibition Archive of the World, 2022 (for more information see the catalogue entry by Rachel Kaplan in the accompanying publication, cat. no. 90, pp. 338–41)

Provenance

Estate of Lafayette “Lafe” Pence Speirs, Los Angeles; Abell Auction Company, Commerce, California, 2003; Ronald A. Belkin, Long Beach, California, 2003; LACMA, 2015.

Selected Bibliography
  • Katzew, Ilona, ed. Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800: Highlights from LACMA’s Collection. Exh. Cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; New York: DelMonico Books/D.A.P., 2022.
Selected Exhibition History
  • Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 12, 2022 - October 30, 2022
  • Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 12, 2022 - October 30, 2022
  • Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. October 20, 2023 - January 28, 2024
  • Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. October 20, 2023 - January 28, 2024
  • Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 22, 2024 - September 08, 2024
  • Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 22, 2024 - September 08, 2024