Warren Cup

The Warren Cup
Warren Cup, side A
MaterialSilver
Sizeheight:11 cm (4.3 in), width:9.9 cm (3.9 in) (max.), depth:11 cm (4.3 in)
CreatedGreco-Roman, 5–15 AD
Present locationRoom 70, British Museum, London
IdentificationGR 1999,0426.1

The Warren Cup is an ancient Greco-Roman silver drinking cup decorated in relief with two images of male same-sex acts. It was purchased by the British Museum for £1.8 million in 1999, the most expensive single purchase by the museum at that time. It is usually dated to the time of the Julio-Claudian dynasty (1st century AD).

The cup is named after its first modern owner, the American Edward Perry Warren,[1] notable for his art collection, which also included the marble version of Rodin's The Kiss, now in Tate Modern, and an Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach the Elder, now in the Courtauld Institute of Art, both also in London.

  1. ^ (Williams 2006, p. 31)