Description:
Leather drinking vessels (bottles or costrels) had been very popular during the late medieval period, when ceramic, glass, and base metals were still relatively rare and expensive. By the end of the 17th century, they were rapidly replaced by the more durable containers, but remained the traditional drinking vessel in certain contexts like university halls, guilds, and inns. Bottles were sometimes modeled on the round-bellied form of stoneware bottles, but their traditional form was a fairly square one with two holes along the upper edge for a carrying cord and a round nozzle or opening for a cork. Large rectangular leather bottle marked "W I" and "R C" on the ends. Using vegetable tannins as a preservative, the tanning process rendered the leather hide pliable when dry and resistant to water and rot. Leather drinking vessels were very popular in the 17th and early 18th centuries when glass, metals and ceramics were still relatively expensive. Two common forms were blackjacks (large flagon-like drinking vessels) and bottles. The ballad "A Pleasant New Song, in Praise of a Leather Bottle" 1678, states, "A Leather Bottle is good, far better than Glasses or Cans of Wood For when a man is at work in the Field poor Glasses and Pots to comfort will yield: Then a good Leather Bottle Standing him by, he may drink always when he is dry It will revive the spirits and comfort the brain, wherefore let none of this Bottle refrain." This bottle has an arched top with two holes; the sides are double stitched.
Subjects:
Leather; Linen Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+56.130 |
