This small boat-shaped cup came from Cambay, on the west coast of India. 7.5cm long.
Cambay was an important port in the 17th Century, and was also the centre of the Indian hardstone industry, which still thrives there today.
The cup appears in the 1690 Devonshire Schedule, the inventory recording an enormous bequest from Elizabeth, Countess of Devonshire (1619-1689), to her daughter Anne, Countess of Exeter (1649-1703).
Listed under the heading: ‘Cornelian Coralls, Garnetts and other Stones’ is ‘A Cornelian Cupp in the shape of a Boate and a little cover to be fitted’. The cover is now missing.
