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

Not on view

Two-handled cup with a carved dark reddish-brown body mounted in silver-toned metal, featuring dragon-form handles, a leaf-collar base, and overall diamond-grid floral relief carving

Close-up of a cast silver handle featuring a crowned lion finial atop scrolling acanthus leaves and floral ornament in high relief, attached to a dark wood barrel-form vessel with silver mounts.

Artist or Maker: Unidentified artist
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: 4 1/2 × 4 × 2 1/2 in. (11.4 × 10.2 × 6.4 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Ronald A. Belkin, Long Beach, California, in memory of Charles B. Tate
Accession Number: M.2015.69.3
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: Coconut-shell cups used for drinking hot chocolate were ubiquitous in Spanish American and Spanish elite households. Fine examples, such as this one, were delicately carved, polished, and fitted with silver bases and handles. The repeating diamond-and-flower motif on the shell and crowned-lion handles were common decorative elements found on similar cups across Mexico and Guatemala. Cacao trees were native to the Americas, and before the arrival of Europeans, the Mesoamerican nobility drank frothy chocolate. The coconut palm, however, was introduced to Mexico from Asia in the sixteenth century. The appeal of both the cups and the precious drink made these objects highly desirable luxury exports.

Rachel Kaplan

2024
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. October 20, 2023 - January 28, 2024
Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 22, 2024 - September 08, 2024

Related Exhibitions

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

Not on view

Artist or Maker: Unidentified artist
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: 4 1/2 × 4 × 2 1/2 in. (11.4 × 10.2 × 6.4 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Ronald A. Belkin, Long Beach, California, in memory of Charles B. Tate
Accession Number: M.2015.69.3
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: Coconut-shell cups used for drinking hot chocolate were ubiquitous in Spanish American and Spanish elite households. Fine examples, such as this one, were delicately carved, polished, and fitted with silver bases and handles. The repeating diamond-and-flower motif on the shell and crowned-lion handles were common decorative elements found on similar cups across Mexico and Guatemala. Cacao trees were native to the Americas, and before the arrival of Europeans, the Mesoamerican nobility drank frothy chocolate. The coconut palm, however, was introduced to Mexico from Asia in the sixteenth century. The appeal of both the cups and the precious drink made these objects highly desirable luxury exports.

Rachel Kaplan

2024
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. October 20, 2023 - January 28, 2024
Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800. June 22, 2024 - September 08, 2024