Royal Treasure

Yesterday at the Legion of Honor Museum, I looked at the Royal Treasures exhibition from the Louvre. There weren't too many other visitors. The pieces, at least half of them small and exquisitely worked, were well worth looking at. I spent some time imagining the people who had them, and used them, when they were new. It is an interesting exercise, to determine which pieces actually were meant for use, and which were meant only to be looked at. Did anyone actually place figs, say, or sugared fruit, or wine, in a remounted 11th century Byzantine cup?