A Small 18th Century Firing Glass or Tincture c1800

Description

Heading : An 18th Century Firing Glass
Date: c 1800
Period: George III
Origin : England
Colour : Clear 
Bowl : Drawn trumpet. with pucella marks
Stem : Short plain with air tear
Foot : Thickened conical
Pontil : Snapped
Glass Type : Lead 
Size : 6.5cm height. 4.5cm diameter bowl. 5.3cm diameter foot 
Condition : Very good. no chips or cracks.
Restoration : None 
Weight:  81 grams 

It may be strongly argued that this was intended for medicinal purposes. for serving a tincture. frequently opiate based laudnum being the most well known. Anyone familiar with the works of Wordsworth and Coleridge will be familiar with the results of Kendal Black Drop a mixture of opium and nutmeg and their drug induced fantasies. It was De Quincey who unveiled the habits of the romantic poets in Confessions of an English Opium Eater and denuded their reputations for the remainder of their lives but enhanced his own as a result of his own addiction. The hipocrisy of the public when bringing down the famous is nothing new.

Whisky is my preferred medicine. the water of life itself.