SOLD – 18th Century Bonnet Glass

Description

Heading : Georgian bonnet glass
Period : George III
Date : c1780
Origin : English
Colour : Clear
Bowl : Double ogee
Stem : Rudimentary
Foot : Conical  
Pontil : Snapped
Glass Type : Lead
Size : 2 7/8 inches tall with 2 3/8 inch bowl and 2 ¼ inch foot   
Condition : Excellent. no chips or cracks
Restoration : None
Weight: 140 grams

The purpose of bonnet glasses has long been in dispute. The literature often refers to them as being “bonnet salts”. however we subscribe to the alternative view that these small glasses with double ogee bowls were intended for wet or dry sweetmeats. F Buckley in 1925 wrote the following. Jonas Phillips of Norwich in an advertisement on 1755 mentions “Glass Shells of all sizes for sweetmeats”. Interestingly Twiss in his tome ” The Tour of Ireland” 1776 is evidently appalled by the habit of rinsing fingers. “The filthy custom of using water glasses after meals is as common as in England: no well-bred persons touch their victuals with their fingers. and such ablutions ought to be unnecessary” . Thus accordingly if wet sweetmeats were to be eaten with a spoon then would not a glass with a wider aperture be preferable. We believe so.