Glass Vessels
The vast majority of complete vessels come from early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries, allowing similar glass vessel to be grouped together creating typologies. More recent excavations of contemporary settlements have revealed fragments of similar vessels types, indicating there are few, if any, differences between domestic glass and those ritually deposited in graves. There is a significant difference between Roman and Anglo-Saxon vessel forms, and glass working techniques became more limited. Few of the Anglo-Saxon forms can be classified as tableware, as this term implies to some extent that vessels can be set on a flat surface. The forms used had primarily rounded or pointed bases, or when bases were present would have been too top heavy and unstable. This implies that vessels were held in the hand until the drink was completed. The evidence for glass vessels is patchier in the 8th century, as the number of complete vessels found decreases. This is directly related to the introduction of Christianity and the change in burial rite.
The first typology for Anglo-Saxon glass vessels was devised by Dr. Donald B. Harden in 1956, which was later revised in 1978. The names established by Harden have now become familiar with usage, and Professor Vera Evison’s typology retained many categories while adding some new types, some from newly excavated vessels that could not be placed into Harden’s typology.
| Bowls: Wide vessel often with a flat base. Variety of decoration used including mould blown examples. | Cone Beaker: Tall, tapering vessel with a pointed or curved base. | ||
| Stemmed and Bell Beakers: Bell beakers have a distinctive concave curve to a central pointed base. The stemmed beakers are similar but have a flat foot attached to the central point. | Claw Beaker: Developed from a delicate cup with applied dolphins, in the Anglo-Saxon period these were thicker vessels with plainer, more claw like appliqués. | ||
| Bottles: Rare in Anglo-Saxon England compared to on the continent, in the Rhineland and Northern France. | Palm Cups and Funnel Beakers: Palm cups are bowl shaped but have a curved base. Funnel beakers are funnel shaped with a pointed base. | ||
| Globular Beaker: These were the most common vessels found in the 6th-7th century. Previously known as squat jugs by Harden they are narrow-necked vessels with everted rims, globular bodies and pushed in base. Often occur in pairs. | Pouch Bottles: Unstable, rounded based vessel, form and decoration like the globular beaker although often taller. | ||
| Bag Beaker: More cylindrical form of the globular beaker, with a rounded or pointed base. | Horn: Drinking horn shaped vessel. | ||
| Inkwell: Fragments of inkwells have been discovered in 8th century contexts and indicate a small cylindrical vessel with narrow central opening at the top. | Cylindrical Jar: A few fragments from cylindrical jars have been discovered. |
The chemical composition of Anglo-Saxon glass vessels is very similar to late Roman glass, which has high amounts of iron, manganese and titanium. The slightly higher amounts of iron in the Early Anglo-Saxon glass results in a colourless glass, with a green-yellow tinge. By the end of the 7th century some innovations can be observed. With generally better quality glass, a greater range of colours found and the beginning of the tendency to use a second colour for decoration. Most Anglo-Saxon vessels were free blown, although occasionally some mould blown examples are found, mostly with vertical ribbing. The rims were fire rounded, sometimes slightly thickened and cupped, rolled or folded either inwards or outwards. Decoration was accomplished almost entirely by the application of trails which could be in the same colour as the vessel or contrasting, or in the form of a reticella like trail.
Read more about this topic: Anglo-Saxon Glass
Famous quotes containing the words glass and/or vessels:
“In the woods in a winter afternoon one will see as readily the origin of the stained glass window, with which Gothic cathedrals are adorned, in the colors of the western sky seen through the bare and crossing branches of the forest.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Just as bones, tissues, intestines, and blood vessels are enclosed in a skin that makes it possible to bear the sight of a human being, so the agitations and passions of the soul are wrapped up in vanity: it is the soul’s skin.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)