Please be advised: this website contains the names, images and voices of people who are now deceased.

Collections WA has a responsibility to preserve and make accessible the history and culture of Western Australia in all its various forms. The intention of Collections WA is to support research, and to reveal actions of the past that have impacted upon communities, families, and individuals.

In doing so, Collections WA acknowledges the need to respond sensitively and appropriately in cases when accessing this material may be confronting to Aboriginal visitors and clients.

Please also note: Some historical materials within this portal may include language or opinions that today are considered inappropriate or even offensive. Collections WA does not endorse this language and apologises for any distress caused.

Continue

Continue showing cultural advice

Stop showing cultural advice

Collections WA brings together collections from libraries, galleries, museums, archives, historical societies, cultural organisations, community groups and other collecting organisations across Western Australia.

Busselton Historical Society > Records

Decorated Drinking Cup (horn beaker)

« Prev Item Next Item »

(unknown)

1825

Subcollections

Overview

This item is a drinking cup made from a cow's horn, and engraved with a pastoral scene of the low lands of England, including a big house, milk maids, cows, a church, a windmill, a farmhouse on a hill and a gentleman riding a horse.

The engraving has been etched with a hot wire. It is coloured in various hues of brown.

Cowhorn refers to the horn of a cow, which is a permanent living inner core of bone on the head surrounded by a tough outer sheath of keratin.

Historical information

A drinking horn is the horn of a bovid and used as a vessel for drinking mead, ale or wine. Dating back to the iron age, they remain in use today for ceremonial purposes, including burials and weddings and would be decorated in gold and silver. Since the 16th Century fanaticism with Norse culture has seen the drinking horn used for domestic decoration and use. This item, with its simplistic engraving, is classified as folk art.

A horn beaker is a cylindrical drinking cup made from an animal horn, typically from cattle or oxen.

Details

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-124-2018.24

Item type

Drinking vessels

Objects

Souvenirs

Themes

Food & Beverage

Material

Animal Material

Width

8 cm

Height or length

11 cm

Weight

70 g

Inscriptions and markings

(none)

Contextual information

This item was brought out from England by the donor

Keywords

Animals/Animal Products

Year

Primary significance criteria

Artistic or aesthetic significance

Historic significance

Social or spiritual significance

Last modified

Thursday, 10 September, 2026

Completeness

94

Busselton Historical Society

Busselton Historical Society

Other items by (unknown)

More items like this

Search all items »

Plain Drinking Cup (horn beaker)
Busselton Historical Society

Search all items »

Other items from Busselton Historical Society

Cup made of cowhorn

Drinking Horn carved from cows horn

Drinking cup carved from cows horn

Images around cowhorn cup

Images carved around the cup

Media reuse | View full size | Item feedback

Scan this QR code to open this page on your phone ->

Full size unavailable (you're already seeing this image in its highest resolution available on Collections WA)

Loading...