DRINKING VESSELS. Nature provided the primitive man with various forms of drinking vessels, such as the coconut, the gourd, eggs of the larger birds, shells and even the human skull, many of which have been of such practical use that they have lasted to the present day. The first artificial drinking vessels were so similar to those used for food, that it is difficult to make a definite line of distinction. The races of the Neolithic and Bronze ages furnished vessels of pottery of a beaker-like form, and later prehistoric times produced vessels of gold, bronze and other materials, which seem to have been used as drinking vessels.
A specimen, resembling an early Victorian tea-cup on a high foot, was found by Schliemann in his exploration of the super imposed cities of Troy. It is of clay, but similar forms found at Tiryns and Mycenae are of gold. Schliemann was especially interested in a tall, trumpet-shaped cup with two earlike loop handles; a sauce-boat shaped vessel of gold, made with a lip for pouring or drinking at each end, and with two loop handles; and others of gold, silver and electrum, three of which were shaped like 18th-century coffee cups without handles.
The practice of burying with the dead warrior any property that he might need has pre served to our day the actual vessels in use by the pagan northmen who pervaded northern Europe from the 4th century onward. Among the belongings surrounding one Saxon chieftain were five cows' horns and four glass cups. The horns were 2 ft. long, and richly mounted at the mouth and at the point with silver bands embossed and gilt. The glasses were of a trumpet shape, with a small foot, while the sides were ornamented with tubes bent down ward and open on the inner side, so that the liquid would fill them. Another type was a simple cone of glass, sometimes ornamented with an applied spiral glass thread, or festoons of white glass imbedded in the body of the vessel. Still a third form was that of the "tumbler," a plain cup or bowl widely expanded at the mouth and with a rounded base, so that it could only be set down when empty. There are in the museums many other contemporary varieties, plain cylindrical goblets, generally with ornamental glass threads on the outside, and a more usual type has an orange shaped body with a wide, plain mouth. In Belgium, France and Germany the same types occur, also additional forms that do not occur in England—one of which is a drinking glass in the shape of a hunting horn with glass threads forming an ornamental design on the outside. These glass drinking vessels were popular, but a large number of small pottery vessels were found, and in one grave at Broomfield, in Essex, two small wooden cups were found. Horns as drinking vessels retained their popularity at all times, actual horns being supplanted later by horn-shaped vessels.
The drinking vessel possessing the most established history is doubtless the chalice of the Christian Church. Upon early Christian tombstones are found such vessels, apparently with a symbolic intention. But it is not until about the 6th century that the sacred vessels assumed a definite form. From that time date the lost golden chalices of Monza, repre sentations of which still exist in that city; and the famous chalice of Gourdon in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris is probably of about the same time. All of these are two-handled with a vase shaped body supported on a high base. Two glass vases of exactly this two-handled form are in the Slade collection at the British Museum, and may well have been chalices. This form seems to have been succeeded by a goblet with straight lines and without handles. Then came the rounded cup-shaped bowl as seen in the well-known Kremsmunster chalice. An interesting silver vessel, probably a chalice, found at Trewbiddle, in Cornwall, is in the British Museum. It is a plain semi-oval, and dates from the 9th century. The 13th century chalice was usually a broad, shallow cup, on a conical base. These gradually became taller, with a bowl smaller in proportion, so that in the 17th century both the civil and religious vessels had lost all sense of true artistic proportions. In Britain chalices ceased to be used in the English church in the reign of Edward VI. and were replaced by communion cups. The chalices of the early centuries were made of various materials, glass being more practicable, with gold and silver as preferences when they could be obtained.
Wooden vessels, of which mazer bowls seem to have predominated, were commonly used in the 14th, 15th and i6th centuries. In the latter century they began to take on elaborate mountings, and then, as other materials came into use among the wealthy, they began to lose their popularity. Crystal, agate and other hard stones, ivory and Chinese porcelain, were all in use, as well as the precious metals. Of the cups that are preserved in the British Museum, the royal gold cup of the kings of England and France is of interest. It is of nearly pure gold with a broad bowl and a high foot, the cover pyramidal. The subjects represented on its ornamentation are scenes from the life of St. Agnes, in two rows, one on the cover and one outside the bowl; on the foot are the symbols of the four Evangelists, and around the base a coronal of leaves alternating with pearls; the cover originally had a similar adjunct, but it has unfortunately been cut away. Its history has been traced from the time when it was made, about 138o, to the present time.
Drinking vessels of the 15th and i6th centuries were of so many shapes, materials and decorations that most every type can be placed in that period. There were all sorts of adaptations, such as the ostrich egg mounted on elaborate silver, the coconut used in the same way and Chinese and other Oriental wares turned into cups and vases of various forms. Actual horns, provided with feet so as to serve as standing cups, were quite common. The elegant natural curve of the horn, often mounted with great richness, added still to the charm of the vessel. German silversmiths made many vessels in the forms of animals, the head generally removable so as to form a small cup. Stags, lions, bears and various birds are often found. A common type of Switzerland and South Germany was that of a figure of a peasant, generally in wood, carrying on his back a large basket, which edged with silver formed the drinking cup. A curious fancy was to make cups in the form of a globe. These are of historic value, because they show the state of geographical or astronomical knowledge at the time.
Glass cups were not common in England until the i6th century, Venice having practically a monopoly of the supply. The relations of Venice with the East were of so intimate a character that the earlier forms of Venetian glasses were nearly identical with those of the Mohammedan East. This period saw various kinds of wine glasses and goblets with enamelled and lace designs ; tankards, practical but seldom graceful; beakers, resembling our modern tumblers and a common type among the Arabians.
In the 17th and i8th centuries a great impetus was given to the production of curious drinking vessels, not in the sense of sup planting the many varieties of the past, but as an interesting innovation. Cups of leather, generally in the form of a lady's shoe, were common. Flagons, or "black jacks" were also of leather. The material that lent itself to a greater possibility in the field of art was that of pottery. In England at various potting centres a great number of cups called "tygs" were made. These were large mugs with three or four handles, so that the cup could be passed from one to another. Some of these have quaint devices and inscriptions. "Puzzle jugs" afforded a good deal of amusement at this time. They were jugs with open-work around the neck, and a variety of spouts, only one of which led to the liquid. The Chinese still cling to the rhinoceros horn as an object of some what archaic form, believing it to be an antidote for poison. The beautiful amber hue and the thickness of the horn, together with the various carved decorations, make it a vessel of unusual in terest. Tea-cups with no handles, and much thinner than coffee cups, were made in China in the i8th century.
The 19th and 2oth centuries have seen the manufacture and use of most every form of drinking vessel that the ancient and mediaeval times produced, after changing the shapes and materials only as a matter of commercial interest. Glass is the most widely used material, being cheaper and more practicable, while clay is a better material when it comes to retaining heat or cold. (See also GLASS ; POTTERY AND PORCELAIN ; SILVERSMITHS' AND GOLDSMITHS' WORK.)
