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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34.139/239 drinking glass; wine glass. c. 1720?	34.139/130 drinking glass; wine glass. c. 1765	34.139/333 drinking glass; flute glass; ale glass. 1750-1780	34.139/52 drinking glass; flute glass; ale glass. 1750-1780
34.139/105 drinking glass; goblet and cover. c. 1745	34.139/242 drinking glass; goblet. 1701-1800	34.139/D drinking glass; wine glass. c. 1751-1780	34.139/304 drinking glass; wine glass. 1741-1760
34.139/295 drinking glass; wine glass. 1735-1760	34.139/302 drinking glass; wine glass. c. 1750	34.139/301 drinking glass; wine glass. c. 1746-1750	34.139/300 drinking glass; wine glass. c. 1750
34.139/297 drinking glass; wine glass. 1741-1760	34.139/296 drinking glass; wine glass. 1740-1765	34.139/288 drinking glass; wine glass. 1735-1760	34.139/294 drinking glass; wine glass. 1725-1760
34.139/293 drinking glass; goblet. c. 1746-1760	34.139/290 drinking glass; wine glass. c. 1746-1760	34.139/292 drinking glass; wine glass. c. 1746-1760	34.139/291 drinking glass; wine glass. c. 1746-1760
34.139/289 drinking glass; ale glass. c. 1746-1770	34.139/303 drinking glass; wine glass. 1725-1760	34.139/287 drinking glass; ale glass. c. 1751-1760	34.139/286 drinking glass; wine glass. c. 1740