A Berkemeyer is a type of drinking glass that has a wide, conical bowl and a cylindrical shaft and low foot. Shaft and bowl are blown as one hollow shape and only visually separated with a ribbed glass thread around the outside. Berkemeyers are usually executed in a typical shade of green glass, which is produced through naturally occurring impurities in the raw materials. This colour was much appreciated, and it was thought to be particularly suitable for serving white wine. Large examples such as this were made for communal drinking. This is made particularly clear in this case, because a group of men engraved their names on the bowl with a diamond-point. They dated the engraving ‘1626’ to commemorate their gathering, but the drinking glass itself was probably made 20 or 30 years earlier.