Label Text:
The painted scene on this chocolate cup features three classically beautiful figures against a softly lit landscape. Holding miniature vessels and cups, they indulge in liquid refreshments of their own, embodying the lives of luxury and leisure led by chocolate’s primary consumers in nineteenth-century Europe.
 
The word “chocolate” comes from the Nahuatl word xocolātl. Nahuatl is an Uto-Aztecan language spoken in Mexico. The derivation of the English word therefore connects the coveted substance to its place of origin, in precolonial Mesoamerica, where the drink brewed from cacao was a symbol of social and divine power. Chocolate kept these associations when colonizers brought the exotic beverage back to Europe.
KS, 2014

Tags:
dance; utensils; patterns; decoration and ornament; decorative arts; design

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+1955.229.a%2Cb

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