Dunvegan Cup

The Dunvegan Cup is a wooden ceremonial cup, decorated with silver plates, which dates to 1493. It was created at the request of Caitríona, wife of John Maguire, lord of Fermanagh. The cup is an heirloom of the Macleods of Dunvegan, and is held at their seat of Dunvegan Castle. There are several traditions attributed to the cup, describing how the Macleods obtained it. However, it is thought more likely that the cup passed into the possession of the clan sometime in the 16th or 17th centuries. The Macleod chiefs have several other notable heirlooms kept at Dunvegan Castle—such as the Fairy Flag and Sir Rory Mor's Horn (all three pictured right).

The Dunvegan Cup is a wooden ceremonial cup, made of wood and elaborately decorated with silver. It is square shaped at the top and rounded at the bottom, and stands on four legs. Sir Walter Scott examined the cup and, in 1815 in The Lord of the Isles, gave its measurements as: 10.5 inches (27 cm) in height on the outside, 9.75 inches (24.8 cm) in depth in the inside, 4.5 inches (11 cm) the extreme breadth over the mouth. In around the 1850s, Alexander Nesbitt gave similar measurements, and added that it was 5.5 inches (14 cm) at the broadest point of the cup, which is somewhat below the middle.

The cup is constructed mostly of wood. Scott thought it was possibly oak, and later Nesbitt considered it to be either yew or alder. The cup is covered with mountings of silver, wrought in filigree and decorated with niello and gilding. The mouth of the cup has a rim of solid silver-gilt, 2 inches (5.1 cm) in depth. On the outside of the rim is an engraved inscription in black lettering in two lines. The spaces between the letters are hatched with fine lines, which intersect diagonally. The angels of the rim have strips ornamented with niello. The inside of the rim is plain by comparison; except for the letter I.H.S. repeated on all four sides. Each side of the cup has its own designs of triangles and circles. R.C. MacLeod considered these to be representations of the Trinity and Eternity. Ian Finlay described the circled, six-pointed stars as not unlike those on the outer-side of the Domnach Airgid, which is held in the National Museum of Ireland. Empty sockets on the outside of the cup are thought to have once held stones, or glass. Several somewhat smaller sockets hold beads of coral. The silver legs are in the form of human legs; and are ornamented with a twisted wire which runs down the front. The feet have shoes, which are covered in niello, the legs being gilt. Everywhere except the rim, the silver is very thin, and in consequence has suffered a great deal of damage over the years. The cup has been classified as a mether, a communal drinking cup used at ceremonial events, as it is square-shaped at the top and rounded at the bottom.

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