Glass home: Eighteenth Century Table Glass: Dessert glasses.

Dessert glasses

(1700 - 1800)

Different forms of glass vessels evolved to fulfil the requirements of the dessert course, which was complicated and decorative. The word dessert derives from the French term 'desservir', to 'clear the table'. Tables were dressed with miniature gardens and mythological scenes, represented in sugar confectionary and porcelain figures. These would be placed around dishes of fruit and sweetmeats in formal arrangements, and at the grandest dinners, pyramid formations of jellies, creams and syllabubs in small glass dishes on salvers.

Jelly glasses and bonnet glasses, often with trumpet shaped bowls and nearly always stemless, were used for serving jellies and creams which required a spoon to eat them. Cup topped bowls were ideal for serving syllabubs with a layer of whipped froth on top. 'Sweetmeats' are larger dishes with hemispherical bowls and stems which followed the same sequence of style as wine glass stems. The bowls were large enough for the surface to be decorated with cutting. They could contain preserved fruit and dry sweetmeats.

Related objects

There are 142 related objects.

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34.139/102 table glass; sweetmeat glass with cover. 1740-1760	60.40 table glass; jelly glass. 1766-1800	A26290 table glass; custard glass. c. 1780	34.139/409 table glass; sweetmeat glass. 1731-1740?
34.139/405 table glass; sweetmeat glass. 1751-1760	34.139/400 table glass; sweetmeat glass. 1730-1760	34.139/397 table glass; sweetmeat glass. 1731-1740	34.139/396 table glass; sweetmeat glass. c. 1740
34.139/391 table glass; sweetmeat glass. 1721-1740	34.139/390 table glass; sweetmeat glass. 1731-1740	34.139/386 table glass; sweetmeat glass. 1731-1740	34.139/385 table glass; sweetmeat glass. 1731-1740
34.139/106 table glass; sweetmeat glass; sweetmeat glass cover. c. 1730	34.139/12 table glass; sweetmeat glass. 1755-1780	34.139/5 table glass; sweetmeat glass. 1720-1760	25026 table glass; jelly glass. 1880-1830
34.139/412 table glass; sweetmeat glass. 1730-1760	34.139/406 table glass; sweetmeat glass. c. 1730	34.139/401 table glass; sweetmeat glass. 1731-1750	34.139/394 table glass; sweetmeat glass. 1731-1750
34.139/164 table glass; bonnet salt; monteith; jelly glass. 1731-1760	34.139/153 table glass; bonnet salt; monteith; jelly glass. 1731-1760	34.139/150 table glass; bonnet salt; monteith; jelly glass. 1731-1760	34.139/149 table glass; bonnet salt; monteith; jelly glass. 1731-1760

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