TWO-HANDLED CUP
The two-handled covered cups were first made in the middle years of the 17th century retaining great popularity in the ensuing 18th century.
The cups are raised on a shallow rim, the body has a rounded base with tall sides varying from straight to curved according to date and scrolled handles.
Ornamentation is usually by means of embossing and chasing. Some of the most important covered cups were made with a matching salver on which to stand but in the majority of the surviving examples this appendage is now missing,
Some of the cups are without covers and might be referred to more correctly as "two-handled bowls". They closely resemble the covered variety, but the upper edge of the body is turned slightly outwards making it appear that they were intended to be open-topped articles.
It was at the beginning of the 18th century that the covered cup became imposing; at the time when the refugee French Huguenots were beginning to establish themselves and find a market for articles embodying Continental standards of design and craftsmanship.
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Under their influence the foot of the cup was made higher, the handles were given greater importance and the body ornamented with all the types of decoration at their command.
In addition, from about 1705, a central girdle usually encircles the cup.
Two-handled cup were used as a "Loving Cup" on ceremonial occasions, as a prize for competitions, as awards on special occasions or merely as ornaments.
Cups of such form but of much smaller size are sometimes called as "posset-pot" or a "caudle-cup" and are often confusedly called a "porringer"
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