It appears to be a cup of some sort mounted on a wooden plinth so a trophy perhaps? Made by Martin Hall Co of Sheffield, UK it is marked “EPNS” for electro-plated nickel silver. The numeric mark is the design number for internal catalogue use.
Martin Hall & Co Ltd,1866-1936 was one of the best known British manufacturers and participated to many international exhibitions including the Crystal Palace 1851 Great Exhibition. This is part of a line of production in electroplate on nickel silver sometimes referred to as German silver in Gothic lettering (see below).
A quick google image search suggests it is modelled after a Tibetan butter lamp. Which since I have never seen a butter lamp is perfectly possible.
I take it there is no plate on the stand indicating to whom or from whom it might have been awarded or for what?
CRWW
A second look at the stand revels it is not really a fit for the cup or tazza which you may have perched on it purely for photographic purposes? So perhaps not a trophy so much as a sweet meat dish?
CRWW
Actually they fit perfectly on the wooden stand. But yea cant say for who or what they made for. No writings
https://www.etsy.com/no-en/listing/1612331006/vintage-antique-epns-rose-bowl-on-wooden
Could you give me the dimensions of the vessel?
It is The Cup of Life for opium smoking.
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“Kong ka kiao”. ![]()
Okay if it has a plinth for the purpose then I am clear it is a trophy of some sort, apparently one which was never awarded to anyone yet!
Trophy cups don’t seem to have any purpose although typically they started out as loving cups and were presented as an event award typically horse racing and such.
Early first trophy cups evolved from 17th and 18th-century “loving cups”, communal drinking vessels. While ancient Greeks awarded prizes like tripods or vases, the specific, two-handled metal cup trophy originated later, with early examples appearing around the 1690s, such as the Kyp Cup for horse racing.
These two-handled silver cups were passed around during banquets, feasts, and weddings. Some credit John Wesley, 1703–1781, founder of the Methodist church, for popularizing the “loving cup” with two handles to share water during “love feasts”.
The 1699 “Kyp Cup” is cited as one of the earliest examples of a silver chalice awarded for horse racing in New England. By the mid-18th century, these cups became commonly used to honour winners in sporting competitions.
So I guess you get to decide what to do with it and to whom it might be awarded.
CRWW





