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DRINKING VESSELS

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 584 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DRINKING VESSELS  .' The use of See also:

special vessels for drinking purposes may fairly be assumed to have had a natural origin and development . From a See also:practical point of view it would soon be found desirable to provide vessels for liquids in addition to those serving to hold See also:food . As in many other See also:commonplace details of See also:modern See also:life, we must turn to the See also:primitive races to understand how our See also:present conditions were reached . In almost all parts of the See also:world many of the products of nature are capable of serving such purposes, with little or no See also:change at the hands of See also:man; in tropical and sub-tropical climates the coco-See also:nut and the See also:gourd or See also:calabash require but little change to adapt them as the most convenient of drinking utensils; the eggs of the larger birds, such as the See also:ostrich or the emu, shells, like the See also:nautilus and other univalves, as well as the deeper bivalves, 'The verb " to drink " is See also:Common Teut . ; cf . Ger. trinket:, &c . are equally convenient . Such natural See also:objects are in fact used by the uncivilized tribes of See also:Africa, See also:America and See also:Polynesia, as well as, in some cases, by the See also:white races who have intruded into those parts of the world, and adopted some of the native habits . In See also:Paraguay, for example, the so-called " Paraguay See also:tea," an infusion of the yerba See also:mate (Ilex paraguayensis), is drunk through a See also:tube from a small gourd held in the See also:hand, and often handsomely mounted in See also:silver or even See also:gold . In the same way, as we shall see, civilized man has adopted nearly all the natural forms that were found convenient by the See also:savage, altering and adorning them in accordance with the See also:taste of the See also:time or See also:country where they were used . Another See also:line of development, however, has been found to be the natural outcome of the human mind . Nothing could See also:form a more practical drinking See also:cup than the See also:half of a coco-nut See also:shell or See also:part of a gourd .

Such cups, however, in the countries where the See also:

plants producing them are common, would be easily obtained, and every one, See also:rich or poor, could possess one or more . In See also:order, therefore, to distinguish the See also:chief's possessions from those of his inferiors, his cup is often made with See also:great labour, from some more intractable material, See also:wood or See also:stone, though in practically the same form as that of the natural See also:object . Among See also:European races in See also:medieval times the same lines have been followed, though for different reasons . Human ingenuity, though perhaps originally inspired by natural forms, is See also:apt to turn aside into more artificial channels . See also:Early The invention of the See also:potter's See also:art (see See also:CERAMICS), drinking where the plastic nature of the raw material renders it cups. capable of See also:infinite changes of form, gave rise to types of vessels having no obvious or necessary relation to the productions of nature . In See also:Britain and in See also:northern See also:Europe generally, the interments of the races of the See also:Neolithic and See also:Bronze Ages have furnished vessels of pottery of a See also:beaker-like form, to which the name of " drinking-cups " has been given . It must be confessed that the See also:evidence for attributing such a use to them is slender, and mainly consists of the fact that their thin lips would render them better adapted for the purpose than the other pottery vessels found with them, some of which, on equally slight grounds, have been called food vessels . The See also:general use and See also:acceptance of the See also:term by two generations of archaeologists is, however, an adequate See also:reason for a passing mention in this See also:place . In the later prehistoric times of Europe vessels of gold, bronze and other materials, including See also:amber, were made, sometimes of elegant forms, and would seem to have been used as drinking vessels; still, this is again an See also:assumption, though a fairly probable one . A small gold cup with handle was found in a See also:barrow at Rillaton, See also:Cornwall; one of amber of a similar form was found at See also:Hove, and a third of shale near See also:Honiton . All of these doubtless may be referred to the Bronze See also:Age . See also:Schliemann found many drinking vessels in his exploration of the superimposed cities of See also:Troy .

A See also:

pretty form is that found in the first See also:city . It is of See also:clay, and closely resembles New forms an early Victorian tea cup on a high See also:foot . This form found by is of See also:interest, as Schliemann discovered the same both Schiieat See also:Tiryns and See also:Mycenae, five from the latter site being mane . of gold, while the type also occurs from Ialysus in See also:Rhodes in association with bronze swords . This Trojan cup was found at a See also:depth of 5o ft. below the present See also:surface and about r8 ft. below the stratum of what Schliemann claimed to be the Homeric Troy . In his second city appears a different type of See also:ware, somewhat fantastic in form, one See also:vessel being in the form of a sow, while others foreshadow the See also:crater and See also:amphora of later and more See also:familiar See also:Greek wares . But the drinking vessel to which Schliemann draws most See also:attention is the tall cup of a See also:trumpet form furnished with two earlike See also:loop handles . This curious and See also:original type occurs also in the Third (or Homeric), See also:Fourth and See also:Sixth Cities, with little if any change . Schliemann devotes some pages to the discussion of the form, in which he See also:sees the S7ras ?q KinreXXov' of See also:Homer, which has been more usually understood to mean an See also:hour-See also:glass shaped cup, in which the distinguishing feature ' See See also:PLATE, Plate I . was two cups, not two handles . He applies the same term to a drinking vessel of a very different form, found with several others in the Third City . This is a See also:sauce-See also:boat shaped vessel' of gold, made with a See also:lip for pouring or drinking at either end, and with two loop handles .

This equals those previously mentioned in originality of form; with it were found others of gold, silver and See also:

electrum (i.e . 4 parts of gold to 1 of silver) . Of these three were shaped like 18th-See also:century See also:coffee cups but wanting handles . In the Sixth City appear forms more nearly approaching those of later times, particularly prototypes of the cantharus and scyphus . These discoveries in the various strata of Troy may be taken as the analogues in the Mediterranean and hither See also:Asia of the later Stone and Bronze Ages of northern Europe, with , an See also:allowance of some centuries of greater antiquity for the former . It is not proposed in this See also:article to See also:deal with the ceramic and metallic drinking vessels of the Greeks and See also:Romans, of what is generally known as the classical See also:period (see CERAMICS and PLATE) . It may be mentioned, however, that both on the See also:Rhine and in various places in Britain, notably at See also:Castor in See also:Northamptonshire and in the New See also:ForeSt, were factories where large See also:numbers of pocula or drinking cups were made; those made on the Rhine and at Castor bearing legends to indicate their use . Many of these are to be seen in the See also:British Museum and in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in See also:Cologne . After the decline of See also:Roman See also:power, the See also:Gothic and Scandinavian races who replaced the Romans in central and northern Europe Gothic and brought with them their own forms and types of drink- Scandi- See also:ing vessels . These, from about the 4th century, re- navian placed the well-known Roman vessels . The northern type8' barbarians were as great drinkers as fighters, and their literature recites with equal zest the richness of their drinking cups as the power and deadly qualities of their arms . Fortunately the practice of burying with the dead See also:warrior all his See also:property, or at least as much of it as he would be supposed to need, has preserved to our See also:day the actual vessels in use by the See also:pagan northmen who pervaded northern Europe from the 4th century onward .

Saxon See also:

graves in Britain have furnished great numbers of drinking cups and horns, in many cases quite unbroken . From the remains, of which the chief See also:series are in the British and See also:Liverpool Museums, we can learn a great deal to amplify the references in literature . The richest single interment that has yet been found was within the present See also:church-yard at Taplow . Here under a huge See also:mound See also:lay buried a Saxon chieftain surrounded by his belongings; arms defensive and offensive, his drinking cups, and even his See also:game of See also:draughts . The drinking vessels consisted of five cows' horns and four glass cups . The former were of great See also:size, 2 ft. See also:long, richly mounted at the mouth and at the point with silver bands embossed and gilt . The glasses also were of great size and of a type familiar in Saxon interments . Each was of a trumpet shape, with a small foot, while the sides were ornamented with hollow pointed tubes See also:bent downwards, and open on the inner See also:side, so that the liquid would fill them . Such a See also:plan is most unpractical, and it must have been very difficult to keep the vessels clean . Glasses of this uncommon form have not been found elsewhere than in Saxon graves, either in See also:England or in the See also:north of the See also:continent . Other types are perhaps nearly as characteristic, though of simpler construction . One of these is a See also:simple See also:cone of glass, sometimes quite See also:plain, at others ornamented with an applied See also:spiral glass See also:thread, or more rarely with festoons of white glass embedded in the See also:body of the vessel .

A third form is a plain cup or bowl widely See also:

expanded at the mouth and with a rounded See also:base, so that it could only be set down when empty, in fact a true " See also:tumbler." This feature is in fact a very common one in the drinking vessels of the Saxon See also:race . There are many other varieties, plain cylindrical goblets, generally with ornamental glass threads on the outside, and a more usual type has a rounded body somewhat of the shape of an See also:orange with a wide plain mouth . Many of all these classes were found in the famous ,See also:cemetery known as the See also:King's See also:Field at See also:Faversham in See also:Kent (the See also:relics from which are now in the British Museum), at Chessel 1 See PLATE, Plate I . Down in the Isle of See also:Wight, and in, the cemetery within the See also:ancient See also:camp on High Down, near See also:Worthing . In See also:Belgium, See also:France and See also:Germany the same types occur, and even as far north as Scandinavia, where they are found in association with Roman coins of the 4th century . On the continent, however, additional types are found that do not occur in Britain—one of these is a drinking glass in the form of a See also:hunting See also:horn with glass threads forming an ornamental See also:design on the outside . From the wide See also:distribution of these types, it seems certain that they sprang originally from a common centre, and the slender evidence available on the subject seems to point to that centre having been somewhere on the See also:lower Rhine . Although glass seems to have been popular and by no means rare as a material for drinking vessels, other materials also were used . A large number of the smaller pottery vessels would serve such a purpose, and in one See also:grave at Broomfield in See also:Essex two small wooden cups were found which, from their small size and thinness, were no doubt used for liquid . Of the later Saxon domestic utensils nothing remains, the See also:habit of burying such objects with the dead having ceased on the See also:gradual introduction of See also:Christianity through the country . See also:Manuscripts are our only resource, and they are not only of great rarity, but in the See also:main rudely and conventionally See also:drawn in their details . In those of the 9th to the 11th century various simple forms are seen, some resembling our modern tumbler in shape, others like a See also:dice See also:box .

Horns as drinking vessels certainly retained their popularity at all times, surviving especially among the northern nations, and many of the vessels of this form were no doubt actual horns, though horn-shaped vessels were often made of other materials . Until we come to the 13th and 14th centuries there is an See also:

absolute dearth of the actual objects used in domestic life . And here we begin with plate used in the service of the church . The drinking vessel possessing the most unbroken See also:history is doubtless the See also:chalice of the See also:Christian Church ? Like other ceremonial objects it was no doubt differentiated from the drinking cups in See also:ordinary use by a gradual transi- church vessels . tion, and in the early centuries it is unlikely that it differed either in form or material from the ordinary domestic vessel of the time . Figures of such vessels, apparently with a symbolic intention, are found upon early Christian tombstones, and it has been contended that the vessel indicated the grave of a See also:priest . While this may be the See also:case, the similarity of the vessel represented to the ordinary non-liturgical form renders the conclusion somewhat weak . Among objects found under conditions which lend See also:colour to their specific use as chalices are the bottoms of glass vessels found inserted in See also:plaster in the Catacombs at See also:Rome; but here again the Jesuit Padre Garrucci was unable to find any evidence to support such a conclusion . It is not in fact until the 6th century that the sacred vessel would appear to have assumed a definite form . From about that time date the lost See also:golden chalices of See also:Monza, representations of which still exist in that city; and the famous chalice of Gourdon in the Bibliotheque Nationale in See also:Paris is probably of about the same time . All of these are two-handled with a See also:vase-shaped body and supported on a high foot; and thus quite unlike the more See also:recent medieval types .

Two glass vases of exactly this two-handled form are in the See also:

Slade collection at the British Museum, and may well have been chalices . Another chalice, in the same collection, of the 6th or 7th century, was found with a silver treasure at See also:Lampsacus on the See also:Hellespont . It is of silver, with a cylindrical body and small expanding foot; with it were found a number of silver spoons and dishes, the former inscribed with the names of Apostles, Greek hexameters and lines from See also:Virgil's Eclogues . No doubt the whole was the treasure of a monastery, buried and never reclaimed . So far as evidence exists for the form of the chalice, the vase-shape with two handles seems to have been mainly succeeded by a See also:goblet with straight sides and without handles; these latter in great part disappeared . Then came the rounded cup-shaped bowl as seen in the well-known Kremsmiinster chalice . An 2 For two illustrations see PLATE, Plate II . interesting silver vessel, probably a chalice, found at Trewhiddle in Cornwall, is in the British Museum . It is of plain semi-oviform shape, and See also:dates from the 9th century . The 13th century chalice was usually a broad somewhat shallow cup, on a conical base, and squat in its general lines as compared with those of later date . These gradually became taller, and with a bowl smaller in proportion, following the tendency of the See also:civil vessels towards more elegant lines . Both civil and religious vessels eventually carried this tendency to an extreme point, so that in the 17th century the See also:continental chalices and See also:standing cups had lost all sense of true See also:artistic proportions; the bowl of the chalice had greatly shrunk in size while the foot had become huge and highly elaborate, both in general form and in ornamental details .

In Britain chalices ceased to be used in the See also:

English church in the reign of See also:Edward VI., and were replaced by communion cups . These were much plainer in make, recalling in their outlines the goblet form of about a thousand years earlier, the sides of the bowl being See also:concave, or nearly straight, as opposed to the convexity of the chalice, while the See also:paten was reversed over the mouth and so arranged as to form a closely fitting See also:cover . With the beginning of the 17th century English communion cups again followed the civil See also:fashion in adapting the outline of the Venetian drinking glass, a shape which has survived to our own days . The materials of which chalices were made in the early centuries seem to have been as various as those of ordinary vessels . Glass was undoubtedly a favourite substance, perhaps from its lending itself readily to scrupulous cleanliness; but wood, horn, See also:ivory and similar materials were undoubtedly in use, and were from time to time condemned as improper by the Fathers of the Church . See also:Pewter was in common use, and it was not an unusual practice in the See also:lath and r3th centuries to place sacramental vessels, of this or more See also:precious See also:metal, in the grave of an ecclesiastic . Bronze was also used, and the Kremsmunster chalice is of that metal, which was a favourite one in the See also:Celtic church . But gold or silver chalices were no doubt always preferred when they could be obtained . It may be mentioned here that it was a common practice in the 16th century and later in England for laymen to make gifts to the church of vessels of an entirely domestic See also:character for use in the service . Many of these from their associations, and in the character of the designs upon them, were entirely unsuited for such purposes, and in our own time, when a healthy See also:desire has sprung up for the proper investigation of such matters, many such unsuitable vessels have been withdrawn from use . Domestic plate, however, being much more highly appreciated by collectors, there has been a regrettable tendency on the part of the holders of such pieces to sell them to the highest bidders; the tendency is to be deplored, for while they remain the property of the church, they are a See also:national asset; if sold by See also:auction, there is a great See also:probability of their going abroad . It would seem fairly certain that the ordinary drinking vessel of medieval times was, like the trenchers of wood, turned on the Medieval See also:lathe .

Of these the commoner varieties have entirely vessels for disappeared, having become useless from distortion common or other damage . Such as have come down to our uses. own time owe their preservation to the added refinement of a silver See also:

mount . Vessels of this See also:kind are known as See also:mazer See also:bowls, a word of uncertain origin, but undoubtedly, Mazers. in the medieval sense, indicating wood of some more or less valuable kind, and not improbably, in the 16th century, See also:maple or a wood of that See also:appearance . See also:Spenser in the " Shepherd's Kalendar " speaks of " a mazer ywrought of the maple warre." Although such vessels are mentioned in the inventories and other contemporary records as far back as the lath century, no example is known to exist of an earlier date than the 14th century, of which date there are two in the See also:possession of Harbledown See also:hospital . This type of drinking vessel was in common use in well-to-do households until the 16th century, when a change of fashion and the greater luxury and refinement dictated the See also:adoption of more elegant and complex forms . The ordinary mazer was a shallow bowl (see PLATE, Plate IL) about 6' in. in See also:diameter, with a broad expanding rim of silver gilt often engraved with a See also:motto in See also:black See also:letter or Lombardic capitals, at times referring to the See also:function of the cup, such as: " In the name of the Trinity Fille the Kup and drinke to me." " Potum et nos benedicat Agios." Within the bowl, in the centre is often found a circular medallion called a " See also:print " with some See also:device upon it, engraved and filled with See also:enamel . The reason of this addition may conceivably be found in the fact that such bowls were sometimes made from the lower half of a gourd or calabash, in the centre of which would be a rough See also:projection whence the See also:fibres of the See also:fruit had diverged . A rarer form of mazer has the characters just mentioned and in addition is mounted upon a high foot, bringing it nearer to the See also:category of standing cups or "hanaps." The famous See also:Scrope mazer belonging to See also:York See also:Minster (early 15th century) stands upon three small feet . Of the hanap type examples are in the possession of See also:Pembroke See also:College, See also:Cambridge (the Foundress' Cup), and All Souls' College, See also:Oxford, the former an exceedingly See also:fine specimen, of the third See also:quarter of the 15th century . The form dictated originally by the simple wooden cup was at times carried out entirely in silver, or even in stone, mazer-like cups being found either entirely in metal or with the main portion made of See also:serpentine or some other ornamental stone . An example of the former from the See also:Hamilton See also:Palace collection, as well as several ordinary mazers, are to be seen in the British Museum . The types above described are of English origin, with the exception of that made entirely of silver, which is thought to be See also:French .

Phoenix-squares

Most of the continental forms differed from the English, and were more elaborately finished . One of the finest is that which belonged to See also:

Louis de Male, last See also:count of See also:Flanders . It is an exceedingly thin, shallow bowl of fine-grained wood, with a cover of the same make . The latter is surmounted by a silver figure of a See also:falcon holding a See also:shield in its mouth with the arms of the count . The foot is of silver with See also:lozenge-shaped panels inserted, bearing in enamel the arms of the count . A See also:German form of the 16th century consisted of a depressed See also:sphere of wood for the bowl, with a silver rim, and a cover formed of a similarly shaped sphere, called in France a " creusequin." Such mazers were furnished in addition with a See also:short metal handle turned up at the end, a feature unknown in the English types . All of these again are to be seen in the British Museum series . Although the use of wooden vessels more or less elaborately mounted was continued well into the 16th century as a fashion, many other materials of far greater value were in use Nanaps, among the wealthy long before that time . Crystal, See also:agate and other hard stones, ivory, See also:Chinese See also:porcelain, as well as more ordinary wares, were all in use, as well as the precious metals . The inventories of the 14th and 15th centuries are full of entries showing that such precious cups were fairly common . Of gold cups of any antiquity naturally but few remain; the See also:intrinsic value of the metal probably is a sufficient explanation . One of the most important in existence is however preserved in the British Museum, viz. the royal gold cup of the See also:kings of England and France .

It is of nearly pure gold with a broad bowl and a high foot, the cover pyramidal . The whole is ornamented with translucent enamels of the most perfect quality, and with a little damage in one part, absolutely well preserved . The subjects represented on it are scenes from the life. of St See also:

Agnes, in two rows, one on the cover and one outside the bowl; on the foot are the symbols of the four Evangelists, and around the base a coronal of leaves alternating with pearls; the cover originally had a similar See also:adjunct, but it has unfortunately been cut away . This is the only piece of royal plate of the treasures of the kings of England and France that now remains, and its history has been traced from the time it was made; about the See also:year 138o, to the present time . It was made by one of the goldsmiths of the luxurious Duc de Berri, the See also:brother of See also:Charles V. of France, no doubt to offer as a See also:gift to the king, whose or, birthday was St Agnes' day . It was, however, never presented, probably owing to the See also:death of Charles V. in 1380 . The duc de Berri was not on friendly terms with his See also:nephew Charles VI., but on their being reconciled he presented the See also:young king with this cup . The troubles of his reign led to the invasion of France by See also:Henry V. of England, and the ultimate See also:appointment of his brother, See also:John, See also:duke of See also:Bedford, as See also:regent . The necessities of the half-insane Charles doubtless caused this cup and other valuables to pass into the possession of the regent in See also:exchange for ready See also:money, for it appears in the duke of Bedford's will, under which it passed into the See also:treasury of Henry VI . There it remained and appears in all subsequent royal inventories up to the time of See also:James I . This monarch, whose motto was " Beati pacifici," received with joy the See also:embassy sent from See also:Spain in the year 16ro to conclude the first treaty of See also:peace with England since the See also:Armada, and showered upon the See also:envoy, See also: