Glass (for drinking) (Tumbler or beaker)

Description

This tumbler or beaker has much in common with examples illustrated in Winterthur's so-called Gardiner's Island Glass Catalogue (71x206.1, Downs collection, Winterthur Library). The 1790-1825 Bohemian glass trade catalog is signed by Johannes Schiefner of Parchen in Bohemia. It once belonged to the Gardiner family of Gardiner's Island, New York, and documents some forms of imported glass which were available in Federal America. Catalog numbers 53, 57, and 61, illustrate tumblers of similar shape with engraved rim ornament featuring a wavy line at the top, over a band of cross-hatched panels of different shape than Winterthur glass version), with pendant flowers. The Gardiner glasses all bear "fluted" panels at the bottom and vary in size from one pint to one and one half pint to one quart. Although tumblers resembling this one sometimes have been attributed to America, they were made at several glasshouses in Bohemia. They were exported to North America on a fairly large scale, as evidenced by artifacts from archaeological sites. Examples with many similarities to this one were excavated in Eastern Canada at the Fortress of Louisbourg and Fort Gasperau sites and in Princeton, New Jersey, at the Hudibras Tavern site.