Description

A stirrup or hunt cup is a “parting cup” given to guests, especially when they are leaving and have their feet in the stirrups. During fox hunts, those in the party would carry a cup like this.

The stirrup cup was created for holding a drink to be taken while mounted on horseback, usually prior to a hunt moving off. As it is of small capacity it can be emptied quickly and there is no need to set it down during use, which would an impossibility anyway, while in the saddle. The most popular surviving late eighteenth/early nineteenth century specimens are those in the shape of a fox’s head. Modelled in detail, the fur is represented realistically and they are of a size to be held easily in the hand.

We make two sizes of the hunt cup, this is the smaller of our collection.