Hedwig Glass Beaker
Marwa BenahmedAli
Prof. Heather Boyd
Final Paper
December 17th, 2014
The Hedwig Glass Beaker
When we think of beakers we think of cool experiments we’ve done in science class in middle school to measure fluids, or contents, approximately. Sometimes we also think of beakers as cups, something that we drink out of or use for everyday use in the kitchen. Hundreds of years ago, particularly during the medieval times, beakers were not how we see them today.
To be more specific, beakers, or Hedwig Glass beakers, were miraculous beakers that turned water into wine. These beakers were hard to drink out of but they were considered significant and precious items during the age of the crusades. The beakers were made and used during the context of trade, war, and faith .
The Hedwig Glass Beaker was made in “twelfth century AD by Syrian craftsmen” during the age of the Crusades (SmithRiley, “Hedwig Glass Beaker”). The beaker is “14.3 by
13.9” centimeters. There are only “fourteen beakers in existence” and they are all “decorated with Christian symbols”(British Museum, “Hedwig Glass Beaker). The symbols include: lions, eagles, griffins, trees and palmettes. The beakers also contain “repertoires or motifs that contain stars, moons and palmettes”(Whitehouse, “Hedwig Beakers”). These Christian symbols are
“decorated by deeply cutting glass”, a technique established by the Islamic people (MacGregor,
“A World in a 100 Objects”). The beakers are claimed to have a “magnefecient reliefcut decoration” which enables the beaker to have “ hatched details”(British Museum, “Hedwig Glass
Beaker”). The beakers themselves are “colorless” and have “shallow faceting on the upper walls to display the ornament in relief” (Whitehouse, “Hedwig Beakers”). The fourteen reported beakers all have the “same squat shape with flanges around the base” and were also made out of soda ash that was found around the coastlines of Lebanon (British Museum, “Hedwig Glass
Prof. Heather Boyd
Final Paper
December 17th, 2014
The Hedwig Glass Beaker
When we think of beakers we think of cool experiments we’ve done in science class in middle school to measure fluids, or contents, approximately. Sometimes we also think of beakers as cups, something that we drink out of or use for everyday use in the kitchen. Hundreds of years ago, particularly during the medieval times, beakers were not how we see them today.
To be more specific, beakers, or Hedwig Glass beakers, were miraculous beakers that turned water into wine. These beakers were hard to drink out of but they were considered significant and precious items during the age of the crusades. The beakers were made and used during the context of trade, war, and faith .
The Hedwig Glass Beaker was made in “twelfth century AD by Syrian craftsmen” during the age of the Crusades (SmithRiley, “Hedwig Glass Beaker”). The beaker is “14.3 by
13.9” centimeters. There are only “fourteen beakers in existence” and they are all “decorated with Christian symbols”(British Museum, “Hedwig Glass Beaker). The symbols include: lions, eagles, griffins, trees and palmettes. The beakers also contain “repertoires or motifs that contain stars, moons and palmettes”(Whitehouse, “Hedwig Beakers”). These Christian symbols are
“decorated by deeply cutting glass”, a technique established by the Islamic people (MacGregor,
“A World in a 100 Objects”). The beakers are claimed to have a “magnefecient reliefcut decoration” which enables the beaker to have “ hatched details”(British Museum, “Hedwig Glass
Beaker”). The beakers themselves are “colorless” and have “shallow faceting on the upper walls to display the ornament in relief” (Whitehouse, “Hedwig Beakers”). The fourteen reported beakers all have the “same squat shape with flanges around the base” and were also made out of soda ash that was found around the coastlines of Lebanon (British Museum, “Hedwig Glass