Neweeyer's Gyftes gevon to Their Exelencys,
Callum and Chrettienne Baron and Baroness Southron Gaard
by those Parsons whose Names hereafter ensue, the tenth of January, the Yere, Anno Societatus XXXVIII
Christian Baier, Vitale Guistiniani, Tycho Julso, and Helois de Mont St Michel of Hous Amberherthe
Two fyne enameled wine glasses
On Choosing the Glasses
side from the mention of glasses being presented to Queen Elizabeth I, period art depicts a number of glasses in use as table wear.
Wine glasses appear to be used by important figures on special occasions, while beakers appear to be the everyday altenative. The mother of Mary is shown using a stemmed glass (The Italian Renaissance Interior 1400-1600 by Peter Thornton. P 254, 16th Century fresco by Calderari) while beakers tend to be the drinking vessel most abandoned on sideboards while people go about their business (The Italian Renaissance Interior 1400-1600 by Peter Thornton, various pictures throughout.)
The choice of wine glasses was made due to the availability of images and examples of period wine glasses of a similar nature to those available in shops.
On Choosing to Decorate
Of all the easily accessible pictures of extant later period wine glasses, all were decorated in some fashion; prunts, enamel, gilding, etching or moulding. By comparison, the majority of wine glasses depicted in period art are plain.
Based upon the museum examples and the number of glass houses manufacturing Venetian style enamelled wine glasses throughout Europe, it would argue that such decorated glass wear was relatively well known, especially during the sixteenth century.
For these reasons, and to make the presented items something special, it was decided to decorate the wine glasses.
On the Choice of Glasses and of Decoration
A large number of glasses show a combination of mould-blown glass and surface enamelling to create complex surface designs. (For Example: 1523 Venetian Wine Glass in the Victoria and Albert Museum or the matching beaker in the British Museum. (images unavailable).) Sadly, we were unable to find any glasses with suitable mouldings.
Thus we chose to decorate the wine goblets in the equally popular style of period surface enamelling on smooth glass practiced by the master glassmakers of Murano, Venice, and their imitators.
Both coloured (most commonly rich green or vibrant blue) and comparatively colourless glass (usually only slightly tinged) were used to create wine glasses. Our choices of colour, and also goblet shape, was dictated by what was available in shops.
On the Design of the enamelling
On the Choices of Colours
A wide variety of colours are used in the period enamel decoration with yellow, white, blue, green, black and red being among the most common. The colours eventually used (red, yellow, white and black) were chosen from this list and based upon the colours of our beloved Barony’s Arms.
On the use of Arms
The use of the Baronial Arms is based upon a number of glasses including a heraldic wine glass (Picture not available, Venetian manufacture, Museum of London) the Aldrevandini beaker (Venetian manufacture, British Museum, London) and the Liechtenberg Goblet (Bohemian manufacture, Getty Museum, )
On the use of Text
A number of glasses include text in their decoration. The most recognised example is the Aldrevandini beaker mentioned above, however it is also seen in the enamelled mid 16th century French Betrothal Goblet (British Museum) and the 16th century German goblet (also British Museum).
The text on glasses is generally in Latin or French. On heraldic beakers text commonly states who made the glass, while on wine glasses it is not quite so clear-cut.
On the Baronial wine glasses the date and the event where the presentation of the glasses was made is recorded.
On the use of the Date
The inclusion of a date is inspired by the 1586 diamond-point engraved glass goblet made in London in the Venetian style (British Museum).
On the use of Dots
These glasses, maintain the 15th century tradition of adding accent to elements of design by surrounding them with white dots and lines as seen in the 15th century glass wear on show at the British Museum. One example of this technique is the late 15th Century Italian Betrothal Goblet (British Museum)
The Style of Writing Used
The style of writing utilised is based on that seen around the top of the Aldrevandini beaker. The remaining letters were extrapolated using comparisons with available period and period inspired alphabets.
On the Process of Enamelling
Enamel is essentially finely powdered glass colored with metallic oxide and suspended in an oily medium. The firing burns off the oily carrier and fuses the enamel with the surface of the glass. Each different colour had a slightly different firing temperature and enamel colours are applied in order of decending firing temperature. This ensures that each subsequent firing is at a lower temperature, and thus eliminating the risk of colours running together.
In period, a specialist enameller would apply the decoration to a completed glass, one colour at a time. After each colour application the glass would be fired in a low heat kiln and allowed to cool in preparation for the next colour to be applied. The last colour applied was the white used to outline the designs and add the accent dots. This also allowed the enameller to neaten edges and fix any mistakes.
With the modern glasses enamels used on this project there were a number of similarities to the process. We too applied the enamel to a completed glass and fired the finished item in a low temperature kiln – in this case a kitchen oven. Each colour also had to be allowed to set before moving onto the next, but that is where the similarities end. Our enamel was coloured during application, and the glass needed to be fired only once.
The pair of glasses were presented in a sturdy carry box provided by Meistern Christian. This documentation was included in the form of a brochure.
After considerable market research the base glasses were finally purchased from Briscoes, and the enamels from Spotlight. The enamelling was designed and completed by Christian and Helois.