Trivulzio Cage Cup
The Trivulzio Cage Cup is a glass wine cup realized in the 4th century AD. It is one of the best-preserved late-Roman cage cups.
Description
The cup consists of two parts: an inner cup-shaped container and an outer cage that encloses it. The cup is made of colorless glass with shades of emerald green, light hazelnut, and dark blue. The outer cage has the shape of a delicate web of brown and blue glass circles linked with a cross motif at the points of contact. It is connected to the container by thin glass stems. Underneath the lip is a Latin inscription carved in light blue glass: , a convivial acclamation that, according to Filippo Buonarroti, the Romans were accustomed to carve on banquet cups.History
The cup was probably realized by a specialized workshop in the vicinity of Milan, then capital of the Roman Empire, during the 4th century AD. It was part of a funerary trousseau discovered on 9 June 1675 in a sarcophagus in between the comuni of Mandello Vitta and Castellazzo Novarese, near Novara, Piedmont. After the death of its first owner, Everardo Visconti, the cup was sold to Abbot Carlo Trivulzio; a learned collector of ancient artifacts who, recognizing its value, purchased it in 1777.The object acquired immediate fame after being described in the Italian edition of Johann Joachim Winckelmann's History of the Art of Antiquity. The cup had caught the attention of the German scholar who became interested in the manufacture techniques of cage cups. The cup was purchased by the Municipality of Milan in 1935 and it is currently displayed at the Archaeological [Museum, Milan].