1700-30, LONDON OR BRISTOL

Popular in England from the 16th to early 18th centuries, fuddling cups are thought to have been used in pubs or other social drinking settings as a form of drinking game or entertainment. Most known examples have three to four cups connected by small internal holes. These cups were filled with alcohol and the ‘befuddled’ drinker would have to choose which cup to drink out of so the liquid in the other cups flowed through the holes instead of spilling out. In the rare six-cupped example shown here, alcohol would have likely been poured into all six bowls, then drunk via the straw through the connecting hollow ring. Though less of a puzzle than examples previously mentioned, this object would have still provided a source of entertainment as it is not immediately apparent that the cups are connected, and they cannot be drunk from in the manner of a normal cup.