Drinking Bowl in the Cloisters, October 2009

Drinking Bowl (Hanap)
Silver and silver gilt
Eastern Europe, probably Bosnia or Serbia, 1350-1375

Accession # 47.101.42

This hanap, known as the Sanko Bowl, has been associated with Kaznac Sanko Miltenovic, an important fourteenth-century figure at the Bosnian court. The inscription around the lip can be translated, "In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, may God give joy to him who drinks from it but let him not forget the poor." The repousse, punched, and incised decoration on the interior strongly reflects French influence. The hybrid beasts are analogous to drolleries in the margins of contemporary manuscripts.

Text from the Cloisters label.