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Beaker
unknown - Enlarge image
Beaker
- Place of origin:
Germany (made)
- Date:
1425-1525 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Clear green glass with applied foot and prunts
- Credit Line:
Wilfred Buckley Collection
- Museum number:
C.281-1936
- Gallery location:
Medieval and Renaissance, room 10a, case 3
The so called 'Krautstrunk' [Cabbage stalk], is a glass beaker with applied foot and a decoration consisting of prunts. These prunts have been applied during the blowing process, as small blobs of hot glass, which the glassmaker pulled out with the aid of a pair of pincers, to form a regular pattern of pointed protrusions. These prunts have an obvious decorative purpose, but they also provided a good grip, when the glass was handled with greasy hands during dinner.
The krautstrunk was one of the most popular types of drinking glasses in central Europe, during the fifteenth and the first half of the sixteenth century.
This type of glass always has a distinctive green colour, which is caused by natural impurities of iron-oxide in the raw materials. This type of green glass was made across central Europe in itinerant workshops located in the woods. The trees provided the wood to stoke the glass furnaces, while plant ash was used as one of the key ingredients of the glass. Once a substantial area of the forest was cleared of its trees and undergrowth, the whole glasshouse would move to a new location.
