Drinking Glasses - 2

More about drinking glasses

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Continuing the short history of drinking glasses

But the character of English drinking glasses changed after a heavy tax by weight was imposed in 1745 (to help pay for the French Wars), and lighter glasses became valued for their delicate cutting and engraved patterns. So decorated glassware sprang to the fore during the latter half of the 18th century.

New Fashions

The new, lighter glass was clearer, thinner and more "watery" in appearance, a nearer approximation to the original Venetian "cristallo", and it lent itself well to cutting and engraving. This new glass was also properly annealed by long, slow cooling and therefore less likely to shatter on the cutter's wheel. The earliest cuts were diamond-shaped or shallow hexagons on the stems. Soon, fluted cutting appeared round the feet, and the bowls themselves came under attention. It was not uncommon for owners of the old, plain glass shapes to take them to be cut or engraved in the latest fashion. Shallow cuts became deeper after 1780, particularly on the heavier Anglo-Irish glass produced at the turn of the century.

Wheel-engraving

Then wheel-engraving became an art-form, the earliest designs being predictably of hops, barley and vines. Burt a fascinating earlier category of wheel-engraved glasses are those bearing the symbols and slogans of the Jacobite cause. Numbers of these have survived for collectors, bearing roses with one or two buds - symbolising the Old Pretender and his son, Prince Charles Edward - and other common symbols such as the oak leaf, stricken oak, star, thistle and various Latin inscriptions from "Redeat" (May he return) to "Fiat" (So be it). Later, engraved forget-me-nots reflected the dying hopes of his supporters.

From 1800-1830, plain drinking glasses continued to be used in taverns, while more elaborate wares graced the home, Initials and coats of arms appeared more and more on wineglasses, the most popular shape being a variation of the "rummer". Made originally for Rhenish wines, it had a wide, spherical bowl and shortish stem, and very large ones or "Constables" were made for dispensing quantities of punch at thirsty gatherings.

Page 1 of this article on drinking glasses can be found on the previous page.

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