A SPECIAL TYPE OF STANGENGLAS WITH CLAWS AND ANIMAL HEADS
STANGENGLAS WITH CLAWS AND ANIMAL HEADS
A Stangenglas is a tall, narrow cylindrical drinking vessel, usually with a pedestal foot. This German word means “pole glass”. Between the late 15th and mid-16th centuries, glassmakers in Germany produced large Stangenglases with elaborate applied decoration. The glass is colorless or very pale green; the decoration is either the same color or a strongly contrasting color such as deep blue. The ornament sometimes consists of low “trunks” or “claws” similar to the decoration found on late Roman and medieval beakers. (Information above was taken from a wonderful book Medieval Glass for Popes Princes and Peasants, The Corning Museum of Glass, David Whitehouse, 2010.)
Another type of Stangenglas (below) turned up in 15th century, an octagonal one which slightly widens upwards and is supported on a folded foot. These angular beakers were made until late in the 17th century. When rings of molten glass were laid on the beaker at regular distances the result was the so-called Passglas. Some octagonal stangenglaser from the early part of the 16th century were decorated with a complicated pattern of trailing with mould-blown trunks and heads of animals these elaborate adornments were no longer applied after 1550. ( Information above was taken from the book Glass Without Gloss, Utility glass from five Centuries excavated in the low countries 1300-1800. Harold E. Henkes, 1994)
Below are examples of these types of Stangenglases from different collections.
MEROVINGIAN GLASS JAR
134E Merovingian Glass Jar of The Allaire Collection
Date: 7th C, Size: D 6cm, H 6.7cm, Weight: 62g
Description: Made of light amber glass with visible faint swirls made in the manufacturing process of impurities in the glass batch. This jar is of flattened globular shaped body with slightly thickened rim. The base is flattened with center slightly indented showing a pontil mark. Object is in excellent intact condition. Dating from the Merovingian period, bowls of this type have also been discovered in Anglo-Saxon graves.
References: Tresors de Wallonie Les Verres Merovingiens P. 122 #33, Glass of the Dark Ages, Sheppard & Cooper Ltd P. 9 #16 ( dark olive brown), Le verre Merovingien: du quart nord-est de la France, Jean-Yves Feyeux, Plate 65 # 694, Memoires de Verre, Catherine Vandour, 2009 P. 38 #6 (with toes & trails) P. 76 #164 (with toes & trails)
EARLY BYZANTINE MOLD-BLOWN GLASS VESSELS
Glass in The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Early Byzantine mold-blown glass vessels mainly can be put into two groups
Group I
Characteristics: Mostly made with blue green glass with one sub-group using Christian symbols and the second sub-group having stylized crosses, columns, palm fronds & simple geometric patterns. Below are examples of this group.
Group II
Characteristics: Mostly made with brown, sometimes bluish green glass with one sub-group using Christian, Jewish or geometric pattern symbols in four sided vessels. The second sub-group also in brown glass in two shapes jugs and jars both squat in hexagonal vessels. Also stylized with Christian, Jewish or geometric patterns symbols.
FAÇON de VENISE GLASS FROM TUSCANY
The Tuscany region of central Italy has been a glass manufacturing center since Roman times through the Renaissance up to modern day. The glass made there in the 15th to 17th had a slightly different styling than glass from Venice in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. The examples in this post will illustrate this. (Click on the photos below to see an enlarge picture.)
GLASS OF LATE MEDIEVAL EUROPE
SUMMARY OF GLASS HISTORY DURING MIDDLE AGES IN WESTERN EUROPE
During the 1,000 years of the Middle Ages also referred to as the Dark Ages, Europe underwent profound changes. David Whitehouse in Medieval Glass for Popes, Princes, and Peasant the book for the 2010 exhibition at The Corning Museum of Glass divides this period of history into three sections. The Early Middle Ages from the fifth to the eighth century, the Central Middle Ages starting with the eighth to the eleventh and the Late Middle Ages 12th to 14th centuries. Some scholars refer to Early Middle Ages also as the Migration Period.
Glass from the Early and Central Middle Ages is mostly a story of drinking vessels, bowls, cups, beakers, drinking horns, and bottles. In the later period drinking vessels start to decline in importance with the rise of stained glass used for the windows of cathedrals. The oldest-known fragments of medieval pictorial stained glass appear to date from the 10th century. The earliest intact figures are the five prophet windows at Augsburg Germany, dating from the late 11th century. At Canterbury and Chartres Cathedrals, a number of panels of the 12th century have survived. Most of the magnificent stained glass of France is in the famous windows of Chartres Cathedral, date from the 13th century. So important and beautiful are stained glass windows in the Middle Ages that generally, that is all you hear about on the subject of Medieval glass. Most of the glass vessels produced in the later Middle Ages in northern Germany, the Low Countries, and central Europe were made of transparent green Waldglas or foresglass. The color came from the presence of impurities (iron oxide) in the raw materials. This type of glass particularly the Berkemeyer and Krautstrunk evolved in the 17th century into the Roemer.
Parts of this article come from the book written by David Whitehouse, Medieval Glass for popes, Princes, and Peasant,2010 and an article in Glashistorisch Tijdschrift nr.138. By Theo Zandbergen
GLASS FROM THE LATE MIDDLE AGES
IN THE ALLAIRE COLLECTION
13E KRAUTSRUNK BEAKER
23E MEDIEVAL MAIGELEIN
49E MEDIEVAL MAIGELEIN
74E WARZENBEACHER (wart beaker)
86E MEDIEVAL BEAKER WITH STEM FOOT
105E KEULENGLAS BEAKER
109E RIDGED BEAKER WITH DISTINCT FOOT
110E TRAILED BEAKER FROM THE NETHERLANDS
120E SINGLE KUTTROLF FROM THE MIDDLE AGES
GLASS GOBLETS OF THE MIDDLE AGES
GOBLETS OF THE LATE MIDDLE AGES
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The Middle Ages is a period of European history between the decline of the Roman Empire in the 5th century A.D. and the dawn of the Renaissance in the 15th century Italy. The Western Roman Empire ended more or less at the end of the 5th century. The Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantium, ended in 1453 when the Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople and formed an Islamic state at the eastern borders of Europe.
During the 1,000 years of the Middle Ages also referred to as the Dark Ages, Europe underwent profound changes. The Middle Ages can be divided into three periods: The Early Middle Ages from the 5th to the 8th century some scholars refer to this as the Migration Period(active link). The Central Middle Ages starting with the 8th to the 11th and the Late Middle Ages 12th to 14th centuries.
Glass from the Early and Central Middle Ages is mostly a story of drinking vessels, bowls, cups, beakers, drinking horns, and bottles. In the later period drinking vessels start to decline in importance with the rise of stained glass used for the windows of cathedrals. Goblets of the Late Middle Ages where not as refined as those of the Venetian and Façon de Venise period but they had a strong masculine beauty. Most of the glass vessels produced at this time came from northern Germany, the Low Countries, and central Europe and were made of transparent green Waldglas or forest glass. The color came from the presence of impurities (iron oxide) in the raw materials. This type of glass particularly the Berkemeyer (active link) and Krautstrunk(active link) evolved in the 17th century into the Roemer(active link).
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This post is a pictorial of goblets from when they first appeared in the 11th to the 15th century to the beginning of the Renaissance.
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Hedwig Beakers
Hedwig beakers form a small but famous group of vessels. They share several characteristics: the same form (beakers with a straight, tapering side), the same finishing techniques (decorated by cutting), and the same shallow faceting of the upper wall in order to display the ornament in relief. The beakers range in height from 8.3 to 14.6 centimeters. All are colorless or nearly colorless. The repertoire of motifs is varied: lions, eagles, griffins, and the tree of life are recurrent elements, but we also find a chalice, a crescent moon and stars, palmettos, and abstract or geometric motifs. It appears these objects were designed to be fitted with gold mounts to be used as goblets. Below are beakers as they appear in their gold mounts and one with a lid. Additional information about the Hedwig Beaker can be found at Corning Museum of Glass(active link)
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Below are Two Hedwig beakers shown in their gold mounts
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