Feeding bowl
This shell-shaped vessel—known as a feeding bowl—was used to serve strong broth or other liquid nourishment to the sick through a pierced well. The absence of marks suggests that the unknown goldsmith, who merged superior craftmanship with inventive design to create this piece, was guild-exempt while working as a court goldsmith. On the cover plate is an armorial roundel with a Latin inscription encircling the ibex (goat) crest of Count Michael Teleki de Szék (b. 1634), a wealthy statesman, military commander, and landlord. The engraved date 1690 is the year of the count’s death. He likely used the bowl himself during his final illness. A similar coat of arms of a rampant goat as a hexagonal dish in the Hungarian National Museum.
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