Royal Gold Cup
A covered cup of solid gold with translucent enamel telling the legend of St Agnes.
The cup was made for the French royal house and passed to England, Spain and a convent before the British Museum bought it in 1892. It is one of very few gold objects surviving from the medieval French court.
Materials: Gold, translucent enamel (basse-taille), pearls
Manufacture: The scenes were engraved in the gold and covered with translucent enamel that glows against the gold ground.
The clear coloured enamel glowing over the engraved gold ground.
The story told in pictures round the bowl and on the lid.