Grace Cup Explained

A grace cup (or loving cup) is a silver bowl or tankard with two handles that was traditionally passed round the table after grace at banquets.^[1] According to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, the Grace Cup is still seen at the Lord Mayor's feasts, at College, and occasionally in private banquets.^[2] ^[3] ^[4] Oxford's Oriel College possesses Sanford and Heywood grace cups, dated 1654-55 and 1669–70 in its Buttery Plate collection.^[5] Nearby Balliol College also makes reference to the use of a Grace Cup which was discontinued in the early-20th century.^[6]

'Grace' cups were passed round when a traditional grace (a prayer of thanksgiving) was said to give thanks for the food eaten. Robert Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) described their use as "a corollary to conclude the feast and continue their mirth, a grace cup came in to cheer their hearts and they drank healths to one another again and again".

A good example is The Howard 'Grace' Cup.

Usage

The proper way of drinking the cup observed at the Lord Mayor's banquet or City companies' is to have a silver bowl with two handles and a napkin. Two persons stand up, one to drink and the other to defend the drinker. Having taken his draught, he wipes the cup with the napkin, and passes it to his "defender," when the next person rises to defend the new drinker. And so on to the end.^[7]

Notes and References

Compare:Book: Porter . Henry . Roberts . George E. . 1869 . Cups and their Customs . 2 . London . John Van Voorst . 42 . 6 April 2024 . The Grace-cup and Loving-cup appear to be synonymous terms for a beverage the drinking of which has been from time immemorial a great feature at corporation dinners in London and other large towns, as also at the feasts of the various trade companies and the Inns of Court, and which is a compound of wine and spices, formerly called 'Sack.'.
http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Wood-NuttallEncyclopaedia/g/gracecup.html Wood-Nuttall Encyclopaedia
Compare:Encyclopedia: Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable . Grace cup . 6 April 2024 . c. 1953 . Harper and Brothers . 414 . Grace cup or Loving cup. This is a large tankard or goblet from which the last draught at a banquet is drunk, the cup being passed from guest to guest. The name is also applied to a strong brew, as at Oxford, of beer flavoured with lemon-peel, nutmeg and sugar, and very brown toast..
Compare:Encyclopedia: Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable . Loving or Grace cup . 6 April 2024 . c. 1953 . Harper and Brothers . 414 570 . Loving or Grace Cup. A large cup passed round from guest to guest at formal banquets, especially at College, Court, and in the City of London..
Jones, Alfred, Catalogue of the plate of Oriel College Oxford (1944) — Oxford University Press pp.xi-xiii, 1-2, 97
http://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/history/exhibitions/catherine/index.asp St Catherine of Alexandria, patron saint of Balliol College
http://www.bartleby.com/81/7467.html Grace Cup