Attributed to the Zurich silversmith Abraham Gessner and dating from the second half of the 16th century, this partially gilded silver hanap, or drinking cup, consists of four parts. A base with chased motifs is surmounted by a bolt covered in enamel decoration depicting scrolls of flowers and exotic birds  is surmounted by a stem, in the form of a naked Hercules holding a cornucopia in his right hand and picking the fruit with his left. This mythological reference leads to another: that of Atlas, also known as Portera Terra, meaning "he who carries the earth", in this case a terrestrial globe topped by a small armillary sphere. The care with which geography is treated on this globe leads us to the hypothesis that this hanap was considered a genuine tool of knowledge and science rather than a simple drinking vessel.

In 16th-century Lorraine, under the impetus of duke Charles IV and his court, numerous instruments of knowledge were commissioned. Globes and celestial spheres proliferated, as did bird's-eye views and plans, providing those who commissioned them with new tools of knowledge and power.

In 1663, Charles IV donated this hanap to the Tiercelins convent in Sion, giving it the status of a religious object. Recognised as being of scientific interest by a commission in charge of examining it, it was saved from being melted down in 1795 and kept in the library of the city of Nancy before joining the collections of the Musée lorrain in 1875.