Victorian hand-chased silver water or wine goblet

Handsome antique silver wine or water goblet with gilded interior. The body of the cup is hand chased and the base adorned with scrolls, foliage and floral work. There is vacant cartouche on one side that could be engraved.

In the mid-fifteenth century landed gentry owned goblets and other drinking vessels crafted in silver. Since then, the goblet has remained almost entirely unchanged in its form and, because their design was eminently practical, wine glasses were similarly modelled with flat bases, thin stems and conical bowls.

Superstitious drinkers in the seventeenth century the believed that precious metals promoted better health and so the demand for silver goblets increased, but at that time their cost meant that they remained exclusively for the richest.