Loutreamont's famous metaphor, 'beautiful as the chance encounter of a sewing machine and an umbrella on a disecting table,' dominated the Surrealist scene in 1929. The Surrealists were trying out the metaphor to capturine the images of the dream in reality, crystallize objects of desire, and affirm the magic link between the unconscious and the real world.
         They were collaborating and making new objects with personal and symbolic significance. The discovery and making of Surrealist objects spilled over into the arena of fashion, home interior, and jewelry design. Dali created a series of eccentric designs for the home, including a house shaped like a shoe. By 1936 Oppenheim's father, a doctor of Jewish descent, had lost his job in Germany and was unable to support Meret in Paris as she studied art. With Ernst's encouragement she began to work on making fashion objects to sell to designers. Oppenheim began to make an assortment of objects including curious jewelry. She was wearing a bracelet made from a piece of brass and covered with fur when she ran into Picasso at a Parisian cafe. Oppenheim was drinking tea with Picasso and Dora Maar when the two began to admire the fur covered bracelet. Picasso remarked that anything might be covered with fur, even a teacup. When Oppenheim's teacup grew cold she remarked that she would like a little more 'fur for her cup,' and the idea was born.
         The furlined teacup takes its place in the Surrealist lore of alchemical transformation from mineral to organic matter. Transformation from one element to another, as from one world to another is a constant theme that resonated then and still resonates today. The cup is sensuous, luxuriant, and inviting at the same time it is repellent as it is a skinned animal, hair in the mouth and on the hands, and erotic as all of these. The sculpture cleverly evokes many associations and emotions at once.