File:Drinking Horn with Silver-gilt mounts.jpg

This drinking horn is typical of those made throughout Europe between the tenth and the seventeenth century. Most northern European versions of the fifteenth century and later have clawed feet and late Gothic-style ornament. This particular example (one of two in the Hunt Museum) is characteristic of the late medieval 'Griffin's Foot' or 'Dragon's Foot' style, in which the feet are separately made and soldered on. The animal horn is banded by silver-gilt mounts with stylized foliage, and the terminal has incised ornamentation of meandering foliage and a brambled knob. The rim, decorated with incised and hatched work, is riveted in place, and bears an inscription that may have been added in the sixteenth century. Its foliated ornament recalls that found on some of the Raeren jugs, which can also be seen in the museum.