German Romer Roemer Green Stem Glass

It has been said that "in order to enjoy wine fully, the proper glassware is required". There are many different shapes, styles, and colors to found in wine glasses. This monograph is concerned with the origin and development of one particular wine glass -- the well-known glass with the green stem used in Germany to serve Rhine wine like the one shown below. This one I acquired while on atrip to Germany. While most are madein Germany, this one was made in France. Why? The most obvious answer is that the glass sells so well that even French glass makers produce it to sell on the German market. But, might there not be another explanation that could answer the question and shed some light on this glass. Following this line of thinking, I decided to explore the origins of this glass and see what I could learn along the way not only about who made it, but why this particular shape, and why a green stem ?ORIGINS OF GLASS: The knowledge of how to make glass began in the Middle East. Most people believe that the first glass makers came from ancient Egypt starting about 4500 B.C. There is some evidence for even earlier origins in Mesopotamia at about 5000 B.C. In either case, the glass being made was in the form of beads. It wasn't until about 1700 B.C. that glass was being made as a hollow container. Glass is made by melting silica (sand) with an alcaloid flux (soda or potash) to aid in the melting process and adding lime to stablize it. The properties of glass vary with the above geponents. For example: if soda from burned seaweed is used, the result is a "Soda Glass" which is soft and plastic after melting and slowly hardens as it cools. This allows the glass maker time to shape it and even decorate it in geplicated forms. If potash (burned wood and bracken) is added, the glass "stiffs" more quickly and sets harder than soda glass. This type of glass is better suited for cutting and engraving. If there are other elements or impurities present in the sand, the color or appearance of the glass is affected. In ancient times molten glass was kept in a liquid state (using a wood-burning furnace which had to be heated to over 1000 degrees to melt the sand) till it could be shaped . Syrian craftsmen have been credited with inventing the glass blowing pipe which became the basic glassmaking tool from the 1700's B.C. until the present. With this invention, glass production became easier, faster, and cheaper . . . though a large volume of wood was still necessary to keep the furnace going. The glass blower took the hot and fluid glass on the hollow pipe and by blowing into it and rolling it, he could shape a glass bubble. The bubble could be further heated to keep it soft enough to continue shaping it, using a variety of tools. Glass makers in both Syria and Alexandria, Egypt both exported glass products and set up glass works throughout the Roman Empire. Syrian glass works in particular were set up in Italy, France, and the Rheinland in the 1st century A.D. By the 2nd century, glass works had spread to Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Britain. THE ROMAN WINE GLASS:Here is a "wine" glass gemonly found throughout the Roman Empire of that time produced by both Syrian and Alexandrian glass makers. This glass has blobs of molten glass (prunts) applied to the surface. This type of glass was originally intended to hold specific types of wine. The shape and size of the prunts where meant to imitate the type of fruit used to make the wine. In other words the prunts served as an early "label". This pattern, for example, may have indicated that this glass held date wine. As this style of glass became more widely spread throughout the Roman Empire, the labeling purpose gradually disappeared as the glass was used to hold any sort of wine or drink. The decorative prunts were retained merely to facilitate holding the glass. By the 4th century, with the decline and eventual collapse of the Roman Empire in 476 A.D., particular shapes of glass began to take on a more regional identity. Glassware began to differ as migration of glass makers gradualy came to a stop. Soda glass continued to be produced around the Mediterranean while "forest glass" was produced north of the Alps. Northern Europeans could no longer easily import traditional ingredients and skilled glass makers found it difficult to do business in an unstable world. Many glassworks tied to monastaries where ancient technological knowledge was preserved did survive. GERMAN FOREST GLASS -- Krautstrunk