The shape and dense structure of animal horns made them suitable for use as drinking vessels. This ox-horn cup is decorated with scratched hunting scenes and the initials ‘JRH’. It was shown at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. The Museum register records that it was in a 'case illustrating manufactures from black ox horn'. The date of manufacture is not recorded, but it is probably 19th-century. It has a paper label on the bottom saying ‘Drinking cup Madeira 802’, possibly referring to Madeira, the fortified wine.

It is possible that cups like this one and another in the collection, W.53-1920, were made by a single workshop operating from about the 1820s to the 1850s, most probably in England, although evidence about the location of such a workshop is currently lacking.The cups do not conform to the shape of stirrup cups used at hunts, so are unlikely to have been intended for use during hunting. They are more likely to have been made as gifts. Some, such as AP.728:13, are personalised with initials which were probably added by the workshop to order. The decorative technique is similar to 'scrimshaw', engraved work on bone or ivory traditionally carried out by sailors.


Items from the Great Exhibition formed the basis of an ‘Animal Products’ collection, which was formed at the suggestion of Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria. He advised on the formation of the South Kensington Museum and suggested a collection of manufactured items made of natural raw materials, divided into animal, vegetable and mineral categories. The Animal Products collection was displayed at the branch museum in Bethnal Green, in the East End of London, when it opened in 1872.