Beaker

This is one of several glass fragments found in a chalk-lined cesspit in the goldsmiths' quarter of London. Altogether, at least eight vessels were found in the cesspit, all beakers for wine, decorated in coloured enamel. The designs include figures of saints, a pelican, and shields. On this example is a shield bearing a blue wolf: the arms of the Wolfsberg family that held land near Augsburg in southern Germany. The glasses were probably made in Venice, intended for export. Two of them carry the maker's name - 'Master Bartholomew'. Venetian records contain references to a man of this name, a 'painter of glasses', who was working in Venice between 1290 and 1325.