Description:
Colorless lead glass decanter with a copper wheel engraved "WHITE WINE" and a removable, ground stopper. In the 18th century wine was presented on the dining table in either a black glass bottle or a decanter. Given its transparent nature, colorless lead glass was a refined and elegant choice for tableware. In the time period, it became fashionable to inscribe or label decanters with the name of the liquor they were intended to contain; existing examples are inscribed rum, claret, sack, brandy, hollands, and white wine. This style of decoration was a less expensive alternative to silver bottle tickets; the glass engraver even went to the extent of engraving a “metal chain” around the decanter’s neck. A fragment of a "white wine" labeled decanter has been excavated at Tate House, Portland, Maine, and labeled decanters were part of the goods advertised by Hartford merchant Thomas Tisdale listed "labelled decanters" in the The American Mercury (Hartford, Connecticut), November 12, 1787. A decanter labeled "Madeira" was recovered from a trash pit at Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello, in Virginia.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2008.14 |
