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The coconut cup with a cover was a popular product of silversmiths in the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries. The very hard fruit of the coconut was already used by medieval goldsmiths. With the expansion of sea navigation aand marine trade its use grew ever wider. The often richly carved coconut pieces had mostly secular function (drinking vessels, cups, flagons) but some were made for sacral use (e.g. reliquary).
The present item is adorned with repoussé ornaments, putti, herms and sea monsters as well as a plastic figure of a warrior. It was made probably in German areas.
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