Mug or tankard, probably London, 1670-1680

Mug or tankard of creamy white glass, of tapering shape, applied with two bands of trailed ornament below the rim and around the base, the handle with scrolled ornament at the base, the rim applied with a silver mount.

Wilfred Buckley Collection

Following a visit with the Glass Association, researchers Colin and Sue Brain sent the following notes, 5th July, 2014:
'One of two late 17th century opaque white glass mugs in the V&A collection, the other being C. 894-1935 and one of three glass mugs from that period known to the authors with silver rims. One silver rim is on a mug with a raven-head seal (C.119-1924), thought to date from c.1677; another has an engraved rim dated to 1683/4 (C.156-1977). The third one is in a private collection and is illustrated in Stratton, D., “Mugs and Tankards”, (1975), p.117. The latter is crizzled and may once have been sealed. It is likely to be of a comparable date to the other two. A similar silver rim was used on a stoneware mug made by John Dwight in 1682 (V&A object 414:853-1885). The handle on C.534-1936 is closer to the form used on this stoneware mug than those the handles on glass mugs referenced. A similar stoneware mug is in the collection of the Manchester Art Gallery (object 1923.386) and another is in the British Museum.
17th century opaque white glasses are rare, but this may be because few from this period have survived, rather than that few were made. When Gustav Jung visited London from Sweden in 1668/9 he recorded that white glass was being made in both the Minories and the Bear Garden glasshouses. These were probably the two major London vessel glasshouses at the time. From his notes we know that both of these glasshouses were using recipes that relied on the formation of calcium antimonate crystals to give the opaque white glass. However, analysis of opaque white glassmaking waste (probably originating from the Minories) from London Museum site AL74 has shown that at the time this was deposited c1670 they had switched to the use of an alternative tin/lead opacification technique. Analysis commissioned by the authors on coloured and opaque glass from Odacio’s glasshouse in Dublin showed that the samples selected were made using the older calcium antimonate system. These probably date from c1675-80.
The examples discussed suggest that this form of silver rim was current from at least 1677 to 1683 and there is no reason to think the date of C.534-1936 falls much outside this range. It would be interesting to establish which kind of opaque glass was used to make it, because both systems appear to have been in use in England or Ireland at about the time this glass was made. It is usually possible to distinguish between the two types of opacifiers by visible fluorescence under short-wave ultra-violet light.'

C.534-1936