PARIS.- Sotheby’s sale of Important European Silver, Gold Boxes & Objects Vertu in Paris on May 17 will include an exceptional silver drinking cup made around 1180, probably in France (estimate €300,000–400,000*). No public or private collection holds a piece of such age and with this specific iconography. The cup’s decoration is spangled with astral symbols. The eight-branch star, the two circles around the basilisk, and the moon-like shapes evoke scientific works of the early medieval period, and portrayals of the heavens by Western and Oriental astrologists. The planet-like seeds can be interpreted as pomegranate seeds symbolizing fertility. The geometric design, and the creature engraved in the centre of the goblet, are typical of the early Middle Ages. The Basilisk features prominently in 12th/13th century imagery,