Description:
English delft wine bottle inscribed in blue "WHIT / 1650", with a line extending from the "1" in "1650" to a paraph or flourish below. "WHIT" is a shortened form of "white" for "white wine", the term used in England from about 1300 to differentiate whitish wines from red wines. 'Whit' is found on known dated examples from 1641-1658; dates may note when the bottle was filled from the barrels in which it was imported or the date of a New Year's gift. A typical example of mid-17th century wine bottles, the bottle has a globular, squat shape with a narrow banded neck, strap handle with a tapered tail, and flared base with an unglazed foot rim. During that time wine was traditionally drunk young and not allowed to mature. These containers served to transport wine from the cask to the table. Cork or a parchment cover and string sealed any remaining contents of the bottle. These delftware wine bottles were quickly outmoded by more durable black glass wine bottles by the 1670's, as glass production increased. According to Jonathan Horne, 1/23/95, these bottles are okay and not refired. Many of all-white bottles were refired with additional inscriptions and dates in the 1920s.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2165 |
