Memorial cup

This fine wooden vessel, which originally also contained a silver beaker, was for decades described as the ‘Cup of General Provincial Liability in Carniola from the second half of the seventeenth century’ and the bust on its lid was thought to have depicted Emperor Leopold I. More careful analysis of its iconography, especially the heraldic part, showed that the only ruler from the Austrian branch of the Habsburgs entitled to the combination of arms depicted on the vessel was Emperor Karl VI, and only between 1720 and 1738. The explanation is given that the cup was made for the occasion of the hereditary obeisance in 1728, when the emperor spent the whole summer travelling through the Austrian lands, meeting representatives of the estates and provincial administrations. It was customary on such an occasion for gifts to be exchanged. This cup, with its shape, decoration and iconography, would have been an ideal gift from a ruler to his subjects; his ‘portrait’ is suitable for display in a special place of honour. However, several other questions remain unsolved, including why this cup has been traditionally connected with the stipulation of general provincial liability, an old legal custom in Carniola, Carinthia and Styria, which took definitive form in the seventeenth century. The stipulation protected buyers and heirs of real estate against any third person impugning their ownership, on the grounds of greater entitlement to it, and was subsequently part of all sales contracts and wills.