Our museums and galleries house fascinating collections, from living bugs to The Beatles, fine art to photography, the Titanic to ancient Egypt.
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Our museums and galleries house fascinating collections, from living bugs to The Beatles, fine art to photography, the Titanic to ancient Egypt.
Winter online exhibition
Porcelain, with painted oriental style flowers in polychrome enamel
Made at the Meissen factory, about 1725
Accession number M1605
On a cold wintery day lots of people like to warm up with a mug of hot chocolate. Three centuries ago you might have drank chocolate from a cup like this one. These cups were designed for drinking hot chocolate and usually have two handles and a saucer.
Chocolate was introduced to Europe around the early 16th century, at about the same time as tea and coffee. Hot drinks were a new idea and ceramic manufacturers gradually began to develop a type vessel for each drink. Chocolate cups tended to be taller and straighter than tea or coffee cups and they often have two handles, a lid and a stand.
This cup was a gift to the Decorative Art department at National Museums Liverpool from Joseph Mayer in 1867.