The State Hermitage Museum: Exhibitions

The Treasure of the Golden Horde

Drinking vessel worn on the belt

13th century

Ulus Juchi

Raised, polished, chased and gilded silver

Cups worn on the belt were one of the characteristic features of Mongol horseback culture. Items made of precious metals - belts, drinking vessels worn on the belt and horse ornaments - were a symbol of the sovereign power of the nomadic nobility, while the artefacts themselves, forming part of the system of gifts from senior members of the hierarchy to their juniors, served to strengthen the prestige of the leaders of the local steppe elites. This vessel dating from the early Juchid period is embellished around its upper edge with a band of plant ornament. The pattern has been left clear on a background worked with a sliding punch. The festoon-like ogival handle is decorated with leaf ornament on a stippled background. In the centre is a relief depiction of a lotus flower.
The vessel was found in 1892, in a destroyed burial mound in Semirechye province (Vernesky district).