A Grace Cup is a silver bowl or tankard with two handles that was traditionally passed round the table after grace

Grace (prayer)

Grace is a name for any of a number of short prayers said or an unvoiced intention held prior to or after eating, thanking God and/or the entities that have given of themselves to furnish nutrients to those partaking in the meal. Some traditions hold that grace and thanksgiving imparts a blessing...

 at all banquets in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. According to Brewer's Phrase and Fable, the Grace Cup is still seen at the Lord Mayor's feasts, at college, and occasionally in private banquets. Oxford's

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

 Oriel College possess Sanford and Heywood grace cups, dated 1654-55 and 1669-70 in its Buttery Plate collection. Nearby Balliol College

Balliol College, Oxford

Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....

 also makes reference to the use of a Grace Cup which was discontinued in the early 20th century.

'Grace' cups were passed round when a traditional grace (a prayer of thanksgiving) was said to give thanks for the food eaten. Robert Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) described their use as 'a corollary to conclude the feast and continue their mirth, a grace cup came in to cheer their hearts and they drank healths to one another again and again'. A good example is The Howard 'Grace' Cup

The Howard 'Grace' Cup

This richly mounted 'Grace' Cup would have been passed around the dinner table after prayers had been said. It is a survivor from the English Tudor Court. The ivory bowl is said to have belonged to Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered in his cathedral in 1170. Such relics of...

.

Usage

The proper way of drinking the cup observed at the Lord Mayor's banquet or City companies' is to have a silver bowl with two handles and a napkin. Two persons stand up, one to drink and the other to defend the drinker. Having taken his draught, he wipes the cup with the napkin, and passes it to his "defender," when the next person rises to defend the new drinker. And so on to the end.