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II. Anglo-Saxon Glass Claw-beakers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2011

Vera I. Evison
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Abstract

During the three centuries following the fall of the Roman Empire the repertoire of the glass blowers in the north-west of Europe was mainly confined to simple shapes of drinking vessels, without the embellishment of handles and appliqués such as had adorned the more expensive Roman products. The only exception to this simplicity in production was the claw-beaker (Rüsselbecher), and this has therefore received a great deal of attention from archaeologists who were intrigued to discover when, where, and also why they were made. As a result of these studies a general system of typology and chronology has gradually been established, but there are now reasons for re-opening the subject. First, new claw-beakers have come to light in recent excavations which add considerably to the facts so far assembled as to typology and chronology; secondly, only a small proportion of the work done on these glasses has appeared in English publications, and, thirdly, the claw-beakers found in Anglo-Saxon England have not been subjected to an examination focused on them as an insular group (rather than as a peripheral phenomenon of the continental series) with particular attention to dating by association. It is hoped that each of the aspects of the subject developed here will produce fresh evidence of vital interest.

Type
Research Article
Information
Archaeologia , Volume 107 , 1982 , pp. 43 - 76
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1982

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References

Notes

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24 When published in 1909 it was kept at Brook House, Eastry, but Mr. Anthony Irby, son of the owner and who was a few years old at the time, informs me that he does not remember the beaker. One may assume therefore that it left Brook House soon after 1909.

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34 I am grateful to Dr. B. Schmidt for the following information on these two claw-breakers, and for the photograph, pl. VI b. Mühlhausen, Städtische Kiesgrube, claw-beaker yellowish/yellow-green, ht. 16·5 cm., diam. mouth 9·5 cm. Mus. Mühlhausen Inv. No. V/4, on loan to Mus. für Urgeschichte, Weimar. Mühlhausen, Wagenstedter Str. Gr. 1, claw-beaker with 10 claws, yellow/yellow-brown with slight-olive green tone, ht. 15·5 cm., diam. mouth 8–8 cm., foot 4–2 cm. Found in a grave with a francisca, shield boss and grip, arrow head, knife, flint and steel, oval buckle, pottery bowl and comb. Museum Mühlhausen III/37/81.

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66 I am grateful to Mrs. M. E. Shaw for information on this glass.

67 See Weyl, W. A., Coloured Glasses (1951), pp. 237 ff.Google Scholar

68 Ibid., pp. 116–18, and Lawton, A., Holland, A. J. and Tunier, W. E. S., J. Soc. Glass Tech. XXIV (1940), 73.Google Scholar

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