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Name of Object:
Beaker
Holding Museum:
The British Museum
Museum Inventory Number:
London, England, United Kingdom 1959.4-14.1
Dimensions:
Height 14 cm
Material(s) / Technique(s):
Relief cut-glass.
Date of the object:
Hegira 5th or 6th century / AD 11th or 12th century
Period / Dynasty:
Fatimid / Ayyubid
Description:
A glass beaker with thick walls and slanted relief cut decoration of figures and hatched detail. Covering the body of the beaker is a highly skilled rendering of an eagle, griffon and a lion against a background of palmettes. This is one of a group of relief cut-glass beakers known as the 'Hedwig' beakers. They range in height from 8.3 cm to 14.6 cm; this vase is one of the tallest. The name derives from the association of the beakers with Saint Hedwig of Silesia (AD 1174–1245). Henry I 'the Bearded' was alarmed at Hedwig's abstention from wine, believing it to be essential for maintaining good health. However, one day as she lifted her glass to drink he saw the water inside turn into wine. The story of Hedwig and her glasses became legendary in later centuries, causing a number of glass vessels in Germany to be associated with her, and have miraculous properties attributed to them.
How object was obtained:
Donated to the British Museum by P. T. Brooke Sewell in 1959.
How date and origin were established:
It is difficult to provide a precise date for this group of beakers. However, two of them are recorded as gifts of Jacques de Vitry, who was Bishop of Acre from 1216 to 1226, to the Church of Saint Nicolas d'Oignies aux Soeurs de Notre-Dame in Namur, Belgium. Therefore, they must have been made before about 1200. It seems likely that they were produced under the Fatimids in the 5th or 6th / 11th or 12th century.
How provenance was established:
The Hedwig glasses are a puzzling group because they are difficult to relate to any other type of medieval cut-glass. The Islamic world, Byzantium or southern Italy have all been conjectured by scholars as possible places of production. However, there was a strong tradition of relief-cutting in Egypt. The eagle, lion and griffon were frequently reproduced in Fatimid and Ayyubid art in various media; they also appear in Christian art.
Selected bibliography:
Brend, B., Islamic Art, London, 1991, p.61.
Citation:
Tait, H., (ed.), Five Thousand Years of Glass, London, 1991, pp.126–8. Whitehouse, D., "A Note on Hedwig Glasses", Cairo to Kabul (eds. W. Ball and L. Harrow), London, 2002, pp.255–9.
Emily Shovelton "Beaker" in Discover Islamic Art. Place: Museum With No Frontiers, 2013. http://www.discoverislamicart.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;uk;Mus01;9;en
MWNF Working Number: UK1 12
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