Drinking glass

Object Type
Wine glasses such as this must have been made in large numbers at the end of the 17th century, though very few survive. Clear 'flint' drinking glasses (one of the basic ingredients being calcined and powdered flint) were available in two grades, according to their weight. The thin bowl and light construction of this glass show that it is an example of 'single flint' rather than the thicker and more expensive 'double flint' glass.

Time
It was the glassmaker George Ravenscroft (1632-1681) who developed English lead or flint glass. By 1690, however, the influence of the Italian glassmakers he had employed some 15 years earlier was fading. But just before the truly English heavy baluster stem was invented, some foreign influence was still sometimes to be found. Of the small number of specialist tools needed to work hot glass, the pincers (tongs or pucellas introduced by Italian glassmakers) were one of the most useful. On this piece, the pincering of the mould-blown ribbing and the stem are typical Venetian techniques. Here they were applied to hot molten lead glass that could easily be compressed, but was unwilling to be pulled and teased into the fantastic shapes beloved of Italian glassmakers.