Drinking Glasses

(1700 - 1800)

Drinking glass bowl shapes were determined by the type of drink they were used for. Wine was stronger than it is now, so bowls were much smaller than they are today, although they would have been frequently re-filled. Gin, and strong fruit liqueurs were drunk from glasses now known as 'cordial glasses', with tiny bowls on disproportionately tall stems. Glasses with tall narrow bowls, often engraved with a spray of hops or barley, were made for drinking ale, a much more alcoholic drink in the eighteenth century. Champagne and cider was drunk from slender 'flutes'.

Beer would have been drunk from large cylindrical glasses with handles, and tumblers were also very common. Goblets, (stemmed glasses with large bowls) and rummers (large stem-less glasses on a foot) may have been used for wine diluted with water. The tumbler shape was also commonly used, and often decorated with engraving.

Masculine social life revolving around drinking required glasses with particular attributes. Large 'mammoth' goblets were made for communal use at club meetings and ceremonies. There were also hardwearing dram glasses and 'firing' glasses with thick feet for slamming on the tabletop after repeated toasts. Toastmasters had special glasses with deceptively shallow bowls so that they could consume less alcohol than their fellow drinkers.

The study of English drinking glasses is based on a system of classification of stem and bowl types, which was formulated by collectors in the first decades of the twentieth century, and developed by Barrington Haynes in the 1950s. Specialists today often use the classifications published in Eighteenth Century English Drinking Glasses by L M Bickerton in 1971(Woodbridge: Antique Collectors Club 1987).

Featured types

1680 -1740: Baluster stems (1680 - 1740)

1740 - 1760: Air twist stems (1740 - 1760)

1750 - 1780: Opaque twist (1750 - 1780)

1770 - 1800: Facet cutting and classical decoration (1750 - 1780)

Related objects

There are 584 related objects.

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34.139/96 drinking glass; wine glass. 1745-1765	34.139/93 drinking glass; wine glass. 1725-1760	34.139/81 drinking glass; wine glass. c. 1714-1720	34.139/80 drinking glass; wine glass. c. 1714-1730
34.139/79 drinking glass; wine glass. 1700-1730?	34.139/111 drinking glass; wine glass. 1760	34.139/110 drinking glass; wine glass. c. 1735	34.139/109 drinking glass; wine glass. c. 1757
34.139/108 drinking glass; goblet. c. 1746-1750	34.139/117 drinking glass; wine glass. c. 1761-1775	34.139/116 drinking glass; wine glass. c. 1770	34.139/115 drinking glass; goblet and cover. c. 1760
34.139/114 drinking glass; cordial glass. c. 1765	34.139/112 drinking glass; wine glass. c. 1770	34.139/125 drinking glass; ale glass. c. 1691-1720	34.139/118 drinking glass; wine glass. c. 1765
34.139/133 drinking glass; wine glass. 1681-1720	34.139/132 drinking glass; puzzle goblet. c. 1691-1710; but possibly modern reproduction	34.139/191 drinking glass; toastmaster's glass. c. 1750	34.139/189 drinking glass; wine glass. 1711-1740
34.139/188 drinking glass; wine glass. c. 1761-1780	34.139/199 drinking glass; wine glass. 1725-1750	34.139/198 drinking glass; wine glass. 1701-1800	34.139/197 drinking glass; goblet. c. 1746-1770