Glass home: North European 'potash' glass.

North European 'potash' glass

This section includes 'roemers', a type of tall drinking-glass with a cylindrical body decorated with glass 'blobs' ('prunts'), which was popular in the Low Countries and Germany; other beakers and drinking-glasses in greenish-clear glass; miscellaneous green-glass vessels, and artefacts such as linen-smoothers.

Glass of this type is often termed 'forest glass', because it was produced in rural north European glasshouses, near supplies of wood and other raw materials. One of its primary ingredients was 'potash', a substance obtained from plants such as bracken. This produced a distinctive greenish tint. Potash glass cooled rapidly, making it primarily suitable for plainer, utilitarian shapes.

The Museum has few 'roemers'. However, it has a useful collection of 16th- and 17th-century drinking-glasses, complementing those of similar date made in the 'Venetian style'. For bottles of all kinds, see the Bottles section; for pre-1500 'forest glass', see the Medieval section.

Featured types