Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-02-28
HISTORY OF THE TEAcuP.


Its EvoIution Traced from tho GreeA
Kylix to Its Present Form.
The afternoon teatable has been
dubbed the ssaltar of society,"" and
time is said to be the daily sacrifice.
Treasures in silver and porcelain are
collected and laid upon this altar. and
many hours are spent in determining
the names and marks of cups, which.
whether inherited or found in modern
shops. are of priceless worth to their
owners.
The loving cup Of olden time was
surely never more lovingly offered to
guests than is the teacup of to-day.
All through the years cups have signi-
fed sociability, whether the wreathed
cups offered by the Creeks one to the
other, the loving cups, or .tygs,"
handed by our English ancestors to
guests, or our own treasured teacups-
The loving cup, or 'swassail bowl
s'waeshnel" being Anglo-Saxon for 'sbe
in health"-was used in England at
the festivities on New Years eve and
on various festival occasions, both in
in noble houses and taverns, by the
wealthy and humble cottager rs well.
After filing the tyg with foaming ale
it was the custom for the master of the
house to drink first from it and then
give it to him who sat next, and so on
around the circle. The cupboards of
many of the private householders in
those early days held cups made Of
elm, of box, of maple, horns of beasts.
cockernuts, gourds, eggs of ostriches.
and shells of fishes; cups called pig
gins, cruizes, tankards, beakers, and
''gray-beards.
1t is interesting to trace the evolu-
tion of the teacup from the Greek kylix
through the various changes in form
to the cup with separate saucer Tor
stand) that we now use. In the porce-
lain museum in Dresden are teacups
made with stem and stand, suge estive
of the Greek kylix, and the Turkish
cups that rest in metal stands are sure
ly classic in design.
Allusion to the use of horns for drink
ing vessels is made in the NEUROLOGICAL
history of all nations. The earliest
potters formed drinking mugs and cups
in simple designs, but often reasons
have been discovered for shapes and pat
terms used. There is a large clay-drink-
ing cup in the British museum found
in Vulci) in the shape of human leg.
The story goes that in 1928 Marshal de
Bassompierre, in parting from his
friends to return to Switzerland, pro-
posed to drink to the health of each
one. Finding his horn not long enough
he filed his military boot and drank
wine from it. At once the idea was
taken up by the porters, and many
drinking vessels were made in the shape
of a boot or leg. Specimens are still
said to exist in Italy.
It seems to be quite unknown when
it became the custom to use cups for
hot drinks, or whether any hot drinks
that would 'scheer but not inebriate'
preceded the use of tea and coffee in
Europe. True it is that teapots and
teacups such as we now use were first
made in England in the latter part of
the seventeenth century, and from that
time to this there has been little
change in their form and general de-
sign.
Hours might be profitably spent in
examining ancient and modern teacups,
studying styles and marks, and maxi
ing ones self familiar with under and
over glaze decor alton, factory figures,
etc.
Cups, as souvenirs and congratula-
tory sgifts. have been used for many
years, and searchers after novelties
maintain that the more handles a cup
has the greater the luck that attends
the gift.-Leslie's Weekly.