Getty Museum

Prunted Beaker (Krautstrunk)

Date

1480–1520

Medium

Free-blown dark green glass with applied decoration

Culture

German

Department

Decorative Arts

Institution

Getty Museum

Iridescence and a considerable buildup of minerals mark this beaker's glass surface. This vessel was excavated from the earth, and the damp environment had caused the glass to deteriorate. A sixteenth-century Lutheran priest referred to these glasses as *Krautstrünke*, literally "cabbage stalks." *Krautstrünke* were frequently used either for drinking or as reliquaries. The short, squat form of this beaker seems unsuitable for a drinking vessel, suggesting that it may have been intended instead to serve as a reliquary, holding bits of treasured bones.

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