Krautstrunk

As mentioned in the texts to exhibits Nuppenbecher, European medieval glassware was mostly described as relatively primitive in the literature until the mid-20th century and even beyond. This assessment was based on insufficient knowledge of the material. A completely new view was established by the exhibition Phoenix of Sand and Ashes shown in 1988 at the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn and the Historisches Museum Basel. The exhibition convincingly demonstrated that, contrary to previous assumptions, medieval glassworks sometimes produced pieces that met the highest standards. Indeed, it would have been astonishing if, alongside the exceptional artistic achievements of skilled artisans during this period in the most diverse fields – not least the magnificent stained glass windows in cathedrals – glass vessels in particular had been the only genre to remain more primitive. The three prunted beakers (Nuppenbecher) and the long beaker (Stangenglas) shown here bear witness to the high quality of medieval glass vessels. They were made for everyday use, yet three of them miraculously survived five hundred years and more undamaged.

North of the Alps, in the time around 1500, the types of beaker known in German as Krautstrunk or cabbage stalk were by far the most common drinking glasses alongside various beakers with ribbed patterns (Rippenbecher). Archaeological excavations have revealed fragments of tens of thousands of specimens, several hundred are still intact. These mostly owe their survival to the fact that they were repurposed as reliquaries, which were embedded in altars or church walls and only discovered after a long time, usually during construction work.

The beakers are named for their similarity to a defoliated cabbage, a cabbage stalk. They vary greatly in size but have a bulbous wall and a slightly flared lip in common. In most cases, a glass thread is trailed horizontally at the transition to the lip. The prunts can vary greatly in size and their number fluctuates greatly, but on average lies between twelve and twenty-four. By way of comparison, 13th century prunted cups can have up to over two hundred small, nubbin-like prunts. The walls of Krautstrunk beakers are usually smooth, in a few cases slightly vertically ribbed.
The lozenge pattern of the present piece is an exception. By enriching the decoration in this way, the glassblower has achieved an effect similar to that seen in many contemporaneous handcrafted objects that have a thoroughly opulent appearance.