The Cup of Joy

A Masterpiece of Islamic Judaica from The Silk Road

Live Auction: 29 October 2025 • 10:00 AM EDT • New York

T hroughout history, Kiddush cups have been passed down as treasured family heirlooms due to their profound religious and cultural significance. This Fall, Sotheby’s will present a remarkable treasure: the earliest known Kiddush Cup. Recent research dates the cup to the 11th or 12th century, and places it firmly on the Silk Route, in or around the historic region of Khorasan (home at the time to a thriving Jewish community).

Not only is the The Cup of Joy an extraordinary piece of history, its elegant inscriptions in both Hebrew and Arabic illustrate the richly intertwined histories of Islamic artistry and Jewish tradition. Examples of medieval Judaica are extremely rare, and – of the less than two dozen pieces that are known – this cup is the earliest.

Never before exhibited in public, The Cup of Joy will go on view for the very first time from 25–29 April alongside works from Sotheby’s London’s Islamic, Orientalist & Middle Eastern Art Week. The cup will be offered in a dedicated single lot sale in New York on 29 October with an estimate of $3-5 million.

The single most widely used domestic object of Judaica, used to sanctify the Shabbat and Jewish holidays, Kiddush cups are customarily produced as a luxury object, made from silver or other fine materials. Some are beautifully decorated or engraved and passed down through families, while others are simpler.

The design of this cup is similar to that of a small group of magnificent silver objects produced during the eleventh and twelfth centuries in Central Asia. Very few precious objects of this kind remain today: many were buried or hidden (often in hoards) during times of unrest or invasion as, for example, during the conquests of Genghis Khan, while other pieces were lost due to the custom of melting down outdated silver for recycling into newer objects and coinage.

The only other comparable fully-documented example of metalware of similar date, material, and technique is the Harari Hoard, which consists of 20 silver Islamic items dating to the 11th-12thcentury and produced in the Khorasan district. A standout highlight of the permanent collection of the L.A. Mayer Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem, the Harari Hoard is part of an extended loan agreement with The Al Thani Collection Foundation in the Hôtel de la Marine, Paris.

Research from scholar and author William Greenwood indicates that this cup is almost certainly the product of a workshop in the region of Khorasan in the late 11th or early 12th century. The cup bears, for instance, distinctive designs and inscriptions particular to Central Asian silversmithing of the time - in particular, the use of a vine leaf as a backdrop to an inscription, and the use of both al-yumn wa’l-baraka and ‘izz wa iqbal on the same object are characteristics found only at this time.

A rare survival, this cup can be traced back to early Jewish owner “Simcha son of Salman”, whose name is prominently inscribed on the front. This Silk Road treasure remained hidden for many centuries, until it emerged in a private family collection circa 1956, where it has since remained.

Inscribed on the cup is "Simcha son of Salman, Simcha may he live for Eternity", along with a series of blessings in Arabic, including:

Interestingly, the Arabic inscription features the blessing of “joy” (surur), written twice. It seems the master silversmith intentionally duplicated the word to mirror the Hebrew name of the early owner - Simcha - which also translates to joy.

A Kiddush cup is a goblet used in Jewish ceremonies to hold wine or grape juice for the Kiddush — a blessing that sanctifies Shabbat (Friday night and Saturday) and Jewish holidays.

The word "Kiddush" means "sanctification" in Hebrew. During the ritual, the head of the household recites the blessing over the cup, marking the holiness of the day, and then the wine is shared among those present.

The Kiddush cup is considered sacred, to sanctify the Shabbat or Jewish holidays. By reciting the Kiddush prayer over the wine in the cup, the act marks the day as holy and sets it apart from the rest of the week. Because of this religious significance, the Kiddush cup is treated with respect. In many families, the cup is passed down as a cherished heirloom, further emphasizing its importance and connection to Jewish tradition.

While certain ritual objects — such as Hanukkah lamps and kiddush cups — were essential for Jewish ceremonies, Jewish law offered little guidance on their specific materials and form. As a result, Jewish communities often adopted and adapted objects from the societies in which they lived for religious use; only gradually did the design of distinctly Jewish ceremonial items emerge. Manuscript illuminations reveal that secular drinking vessels, made from glass or silver, were frequently used as kiddush cups for blessing the wine on Sabbaths and holy days. Wealthier Jewish families also embraced the luxury objects favored by their Christian or Muslim neighbors, with personal family emblems and Hebrew inscriptions marking ceremonial objects that were in their collections.