These two ‘ox-eye drinking pots’ with fashionable dolphin-shaped handles are amongst the earliest posset cups known to survive. Posset was a comforting, spicy beverage made from hot cream frothed with egg, alcohol, and sugar. The narrow top was supposed to help gather the floating foam and set custard below, so it could be eaten with a spoon, before the pot was picked up by both handles, and drunk from.

Cover: unidentified maker, possibly John Crathorn, London, 1531 Cup 1: unidentified maker, possibly Lawrence Truechild, London, 1555 Cup 2: unidentified maker (mark of ‘IP’ in a shield), London, 1570 Silver gilt The Master and Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge