Wine glass c. 19th century

This wine glass was likely made in Europe, at a time when sumptuary laws dictated who could own what. Consider the implications of something so simple as a wine glass. By looking at its imagery–crowns, monograms, and heraldic symbols, we may determine which country or region it was made in, and for whom. Wine glasses have been used throughout history to signify elite status. This glass would have been used in rituals of social display, such as toasting, and would have been displayed in glass cabinets alongside family silver to impress visitors with the family's wealth and social standing. The historical study of art incorporates all kinds of resources from official documents to family inventories, letters and diaries. These help us understand how something like a glass, in its own way, comments on the social structures of its time.