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DRINKING VESSELS
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DRINKING VESSELS .' The use of See also:special vessels for drinking purposes may fairly be assumed to have had a natural origin and development. From a See also:practical point of view it would soon be found desirable to provide vessels for liquids in addition to those serving to hold See also:food. As in many other See also:commonplace details of See also:modern See also:life, we must turn to the See also:primitive races to understand how our See also:present conditions were reached. In almost all parts of the See also:world many of the products of nature are capable of serving such purposes, with little or no See also:change at the hands of See also:man; in tropical and sub-tropical climates the coco-See also:nut and the See also:gourd or See also:calabash require but little change to adapt them as the most convenient of drinking utensils; the eggs of the larger birds, such as the See also:ostrich or the emu, shells, like the See also:nautilus and other univalves, as well as the deeper bivalves,
'The verb " to drink " is See also:Common Teut. ; cf. Ger. trinket:, &c.
are equally convenient. Such natural See also:objects are in fact used by the uncivilized tribes of See also:Africa, See also:America and See also:Polynesia, as well as, in some cases, by the See also: Such cups, however, in the countries where the See also:plants producing them are common, would be easily obtained, and every one, See also:rich or poor, could possess one or more. In See also:order, therefore, to distinguish the See also:chief's possessions from those of his inferiors, his cup is often made with See also:great labour, from some more intractable material, See also:wood or See also: A See also:pretty form is that found in the first See also:city. It is of See also:clay, and closely resembles New forms an early Victorian tea cup on a high See also:foot. This form found by is of See also:interest, as Schliemann discovered the same both Schiieat See also:Tiryns and See also:Mycenae, five from the latter site being mane. of gold, while the type also occurs from Ialysus in See also:Rhodes in association with bronze swords. This Trojan cup was found at a See also:depth of 5o ft. below the present See also:surface and about r8 ft. below the stratum of what Schliemann claimed to be the Homeric Troy. In his second city appears a different type of See also:ware, somewhat fantastic in form, one See also:vessel being in the form of a sow, while others foreshadow the See also:crater and See also:amphora of later and more See also:familiar See also:Greek wares. But the drinking vessel to which Schliemann draws most See also:attention is the tall cup of a See also:trumpet form furnished with two earlike See also:loop handles. This curious and See also:original type occurs also in the Third (or Homeric), See also:Fourth and See also:Sixth Cities, with little if any change. Schliemann devotes some pages to the discussion of the form, in which he See also:sees the S7ras ?q KinreXXov' of See also:Homer, which has been more usually understood to mean an See also:hour-See also:glass shaped cup, in which the distinguishing feature ' See See also:PLATE, Plate I. was two cups, not two handles. He applies the same term to a drinking vessel of a very different form, found with several others in the Third City. This is a See also:sauce-See also:boat shaped vessel' of gold, made with a See also:lip for pouring or drinking at either end, and with two loop handles. This equals those previously mentioned in originality of form; with it were found others of gold, silver and See also:electrum (i.e. 4 parts of gold to 1 of silver). Of these three were shaped like 18th-See also:century See also:coffee cups but wanting handles. In the Sixth City appear forms more nearly approaching those of later times, particularly prototypes of the cantharus and scyphus. These discoveries in the various strata of Troy may be taken as the analogues in the Mediterranean and hither See also:Asia of the later Stone and Bronze Ages of northern Europe, with , an See also:allowance of some centuries of greater antiquity for the former. It is not proposed in this See also:article to See also:deal with the ceramic and metallic drinking vessels of the Greeks and See also:Romans, of what is generally known as the classical See also:period (see CERAMICS and PLATE). It may be mentioned, however, that both on the See also:Rhine and in various places in Britain, notably at See also:Castor in See also:Northamptonshire and in the New See also:ForeSt, were factories where large See also:numbers of pocula or drinking cups were made; those made on the Rhine and at Castor bearing legends to indicate their use. Many of these are to be seen in the See also:British Museum and in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in See also:Cologne. After the decline of See also:Roman See also:power, the See also:Gothic and Scandinavian races who replaced the Romans in central and northern Europe Gothic and brought with them their own forms and types of drink- Scandi- See also:ing vessels. These, from about the 4th century, re- navian placed the well-known Roman vessels. The northern type8' barbarians were as great drinkers as fighters, and their literature recites with equal zest the richness of their drinking cups as the power and deadly qualities of their arms. Fortunately the practice of burying with the dead See also:warrior all his See also:property, or at least as much of it as he would be supposed to need, has preserved to our See also:day the actual vessels in use by the See also:pagan northmen who pervaded northern Europe from the 4th century onward. Saxon See also:graves in Britain have furnished great numbers of drinking cups and horns, in many cases quite unbroken. From the remains, of which the chief See also:series are in the British and See also:Liverpool Museums, we can learn a great deal to amplify the references in literature. The richest single interment that has yet been found was within the present See also: A third form is a plain cup or bowl widely See also:expanded at the mouth and with a rounded See also:base, so that it could only be set down when empty, in fact a true " See also:tumbler." This feature is in fact a very common one in the drinking vessels of the Saxon See also:race. There are many other varieties, plain cylindrical goblets, generally with ornamental glass threads on the outside, and a more usual type has a rounded body somewhat of the shape of an See also:orange with a wide plain mouth. Many of all these classes were found in the famous ,See also:cemetery known as the See also: Horns as drinking vessels certainly retained their popularity at all times, surviving especially among the northern nations, and many of the vessels of this form were no doubt actual horns, though horn-shaped vessels were often made of other materials. Until we come to the 13th and 14th centuries there is an See also:absolute dearth of the actual objects used in domestic life. And here we begin with plate used in the service of the church. The drinking vessel possessing the most unbroken See also:history is doubtless the See also:chalice of the See also:Christian Church? Like other ceremonial objects it was no doubt differentiated from the drinking cups in See also:ordinary use by a gradual transi- church vessels. tion, and in the early centuries it is unlikely that it differed either in form or material from the ordinary domestic vessel of the time. Figures of such vessels, apparently with a symbolic intention, are found upon early Christian tombstones, and it has been contended that the vessel indicated the grave of a See also:priest. While this may be the See also:case, the similarity of the vessel represented to the ordinary non-liturgical form renders the conclusion somewhat weak. Among objects found under conditions which lend See also:colour to their specific use as chalices are the bottoms of glass vessels found inserted in See also:plaster in the Catacombs at See also:Rome; but here again the Jesuit Padre Garrucci was unable to find any evidence to support such a conclusion. It is not in fact until the 6th century that the sacred vessel would appear to have assumed a definite form. From about that time date the lost See also:golden chalices of See also:Monza, representations of which still exist in that city; and the famous chalice of Gourdon in the Bibliotheque Nationale in See also:Paris is probably of about the same time. All of these are two-handled with a See also:vase-shaped body and supported on a high foot; and thus quite unlike the more See also:recent medieval types. Two glass vases of exactly this two-handled form are in the See also:Slade collection at the British Museum, and may well have been chalices. Another chalice, in the same collection, of the 6th or 7th century, was found with a silver treasure at See also:Lampsacus on the See also:Hellespont. It is of silver, with a cylindrical body and small expanding foot; with it were found a number of silver spoons and dishes, the former inscribed with the names of Apostles, Greek hexameters and lines from See also:Virgil's Eclogues. No doubt the whole was the treasure of a monastery, buried and never reclaimed. So far as evidence exists for the form of the chalice, the vase-shape with two handles seems to have been mainly succeeded by a See also:goblet with straight sides and without handles; these latter in great part disappeared. Then came the rounded cup-shaped bowl as seen in the well-known Kremsmiinster chalice. An 2 For two illustrations see PLATE, Plate II. interesting silver vessel, probably a chalice, found at Trewhiddle in Cornwall, is in the British Museum. It is of plain semi-oviform shape, and See also:dates from the 9th century. The 13th century chalice was usually a broad somewhat shallow cup, on a conical base, and squat in its general lines as compared with those of later date. These gradually became taller, and with a bowl smaller in proportion, following the tendency of the See also:civil vessels towards more elegant lines. Both civil and religious vessels eventually carried this tendency to an extreme point, so that in the 17th century the See also:continental chalices and See also:standing cups had lost all sense of true See also:artistic proportions; the bowl of the chalice had greatly shrunk in size while the foot had become huge and highly elaborate, both in general form and in ornamental details. In Britain chalices ceased to be used in the See also:English church in the reign of See also:Edward VI., and were replaced by communion cups. These were much plainer in make, recalling in their outlines the goblet form of about a thousand years earlier, the sides of the bowl being See also:concave, or nearly straight, as opposed to the convexity of the chalice, while the See also:paten was reversed over the mouth and so arranged as to form a closely fitting See also:cover. With the beginning of the 17th century English communion cups again followed the civil See also:fashion in adapting the outline of the Venetian drinking glass, a shape which has survived to our own days. The materials of which chalices were made in the early centuries seem to have been as various as those of ordinary vessels. Glass was undoubtedly a favourite substance, perhaps from its lending itself readily to scrupulous cleanliness; but wood, horn, See also:ivory and similar materials were undoubtedly in use, and were from time to time condemned as improper by the Fathers of the Church. See also:Pewter was in common use, and it was not an unusual practice in the See also:lath and r3th centuries to place sacramental vessels, of this or more See also:precious See also:metal, in the grave of an ecclesiastic. Bronze was also used, and the Kremsmunster chalice is of that metal, which was a favourite one in the See also:Celtic church. But gold or silver chalices were no doubt always preferred when they could be obtained. It may be mentioned here that it was a common practice in the 16th century and later in England for laymen to make gifts to the church of vessels of an entirely domestic See also:character for use in the service. Many of these from their associations, and in the character of the designs upon them, were entirely unsuited for such purposes, and in our own time, when a healthy See also:desire has sprung up for the proper investigation of such matters, many such unsuitable vessels have been withdrawn from use. Domestic plate, however, being much more highly appreciated by collectors, there has been a regrettable tendency on the part of the holders of such pieces to sell them to the highest bidders; the tendency is to be deplored, for while they remain the property of the church, they are a See also:national asset; if sold by See also:auction, there is a great See also:probability of their going abroad. It would seem fairly certain that the ordinary drinking vessel of medieval times was, like the trenchers of wood, turned on the Medieval See also:lathe. Of these the commoner varieties have entirely vessels for disappeared, having become useless from distortion common or other damage. Such as have come down to our uses. own time owe their preservation to the added refinement of a silver See also:mount. Vessels of this See also:kind are known as See also:mazer See also:bowls, a word of uncertain origin, but undoubtedly, Mazers. in the medieval sense, indicating wood of some more
or less valuable kind, and not improbably, in the 16th century, See also:maple or a wood of that See also:appearance. See also:Spenser in the " Shepherd's Kalendar " speaks of " a mazer ywrought of the maple warre." Although such vessels are mentioned in the inventories and other contemporary records as far back as the lath century, no example is known to exist of an earlier date than the 14th century, of which date there are two in the See also:possession of Harbledown See also:hospital. This type of drinking vessel was in common use in well-to-do households until the 16th century, when a change of fashion and the greater luxury and refinement dictated the See also:adoption of more elegant and complex forms. The ordinary mazer was a shallow bowl (see PLATE,
Plate IL) about 6' in. in See also:diameter, with a broad expanding rim of silver gilt often engraved with a See also:motto in See also:black See also:letter or Lombardic capitals, at times referring to the See also:function of the cup, such as:
" In the name of the Trinity
Fille the Kup and drinke to me."
" Potum et nos benedicat Agios."
Within the bowl, in the centre is often found a circular medallion called a " See also:print " with some See also:device upon it, engraved and filled with See also:enamel. The reason of this addition may conceivably be found in the fact that such bowls were sometimes made from the lower half of a gourd or calabash, in the centre of which would be a rough See also:projection whence the See also:fibres of the See also:fruit had diverged. A rarer form of mazer has the characters just mentioned and in addition is mounted upon a high foot, bringing it nearer to the See also:category of standing cups or "hanaps." The famous See also:Scrope mazer belonging to See also:York See also:Minster (early 15th century) stands upon three small feet. Of the hanap type examples are in the possession of See also:Pembroke See also:College, See also:Cambridge (the Foundress' Cup), and All Souls' College, See also:Oxford, the former an exceedingly See also:fine specimen, of the third See also:quarter of the 15th century. The form dictated originally by the simple wooden cup was at times carried out entirely in silver, or even in stone, mazer-like cups being found either entirely in metal or with the main portion made of See also:serpentine or some other ornamental stone. An example of the former from the See also: Most of the continental forms differed from the English, and were more elaborately finished. One of the finest is that which belonged to See also: It is of nearly pure gold with a broad bowl and a high foot, the cover pyramidal. The whole is ornamented with translucent enamels of the most perfect quality, and with a little damage in one part, absolutely well preserved. The subjects represented on it are scenes from the life. of St See also:Agnes, in two rows, one on the cover and one outside the bowl; on the foot are the symbols of the four Evangelists, and around the base a coronal of leaves alternating with pearls; the cover originally had a similar See also:adjunct, but it has unfortunately been cut away. This is the only piece of royal plate of the treasures of the kings of England and France that now remains, and its history has been traced from the time it was made; about the See also:year 138o, to the present time. It was made by one of the goldsmiths of the luxurious Duc de Berri, the See also:brother of See also: On his return to Spain the constable, a piously disposed man, presented this cup, with many other valuable gifts, to the See also:convent of See also:Santa See also:Clara See also:Medina de Pomar at See also:Burgos, of which his See also:sister was See also:Superior. Although it was a domestic vessel, a "hanap " in fact, the constable elected that it should be consecrated and made use of as a chalice at great festivals. And so it continued to be used from the early years of the 17th century until about the year 1882, when the convent having fallen upon evil times, it was decided to sell this precious relic. A priest from the See also:Argentine being at the time in Burgos, it was confided to him to sell in Paris, and he deposited the sum of boo by way of See also:security. This was all that the unfortunate nuns at Burgos ever received in return for their chalice, for they never saw the priest again. He took the cup to Paris, arriving in the See also:month of See also:September, when the See also:majority of the well-to-do are away from See also:town. After many failures to dispose of it, he ultimately succeeded in selling it to See also:Baron See also:Jerome Pichon for the sum of about £400, practically its See also:weight in gold. The baron, after vainly trying to resell it at various sums from £20,000 downwards, eventually parted with it to Messrs Wertheimer of See also:Bond See also:Street for £8000, and that See also:firm very liberally ceded it to See also:Sir See also:Wollaston See also:Franks for the same sum, and it was finally secured by a subscription for the British Museum. Such is the story of one of the most remarkable " hanaps " in existence. The word "hanap " is translated by See also:Cotgrave in his French See also:dictionary of 166o as " a drinking cup or goblet," and probably was intended to mean what would be called a standing cup, that is, raised on a foot, to distinguish it from a bowl of the mazer class. Such vessels were chiefly used to See also:ornament the See also:dinner table or See also:sideboard, in the way that loving-cups are now used at civic banquets, where, almost alone in fact, the ancient ceremonial of the table is still observed to some extent; and the loving-cup is the See also:direct descendant of the hanap of the See also:middle ages. Of all the ornaments of the table in medieval times the most conspicuous was probably the " nef." This was in the form of a See also:ship Nets. (navis), as its name implies, and originally was designed to hold the table utensils of the host—knives, napkins, and at times even the See also:wine. Some of the later examples which alone survive are carried out with the greatest elaboration, the sails and See also:rigging being carefully finished and with a number of figures on the See also:deck. The reason for the existence of such an article of table See also:furniture was doubtless the fear of See also:poison. As in course of time this became less, the nef changed its character, and became either a See also:mere ornament, or sometimes was capable of being used as a drinking vessel. The former, however, was medan See also:East. much more common, and the number of nefs that can be practi- A common type of Arab drinking glass resembled our modern See also:tally used as drinking cups is small. tumbler (a beaker), but gradually expanding in a See also:curve towards In the 15th and 16th centuries the shapes, decoration and the mouth, and often enamelled. The enamelled designs were materials of drinking vessels were almost endless. A favourite at times related to the purpose of the vessel, figures drinking and so adapted was an ostrich See also:egg, and many can be the like, but more commonly See also:bore either a See also:mark of ownership, seen in museums in elaborate silver mounts; coco-nuts were also 1 such as the armorial device of an emir, or some simple decorative materials was common in the 15th and 16th centuries, types. especially in the north. They were usually provided with feet so as to serve as standing cups, and some of them were mounted with great richness. An excellent example is the famous drinking-horn in the possession of See also:Queen's College, Oxford, dating from the 14th century. The medieval beliefs about " griffins' claws " still survived to this See also:late date, and a horn cup in the British Museum bears the inscription " Ein Greifen Klau See also:bin ich genannt, In Asia, Africa wohl bekannt." Another horn, probably that of an See also:ibex, is in the same institution, and has a silver mount inscribed " Gryphi unguis divo Cuthberto dunelmensi sacer." The elegant natural curve of the horn adds greatly to the See also:charm of the vessel. In Germany the ingenuity of the silversmith was turned in the direction of making vessels in the forms of animals, at times in allusion to the coat of arms of the See also:patron. Stags, lions, bears and various birds are often found; the See also:head generally removable so as to form a small cup See also:Switzerland and See also:south Germany had a special type, in the fora, of the figure of a See also:peasant, generally in wood, carrying on his back a large See also:basket, which edged with silver formed the drinking cup. This type is only found in wine-growing districts, the basket being used for carrying grapes. In Germany such cups are called " Buttenmann," in Switzerland " Tanzenmann." The royal and princely museums of Germany contain great numbers of such vessels, the See also:Green Vault in See also:Dresden in particular, while a See also:good number are to be seen in our own great museums. A curious See also:fancy, combining instruction with conviviality, was to make cups in the form of a globe, terrestrial or See also:celestial, which are still useful as showing the See also:state of See also:geographical or astronomical knowledge at the time. Several of those made in the 16th century are still in existence, one in the British Museum, a second at See also:Nancy, and others are in See also:Copenhagen and See also:Zurich and in private collections. The upper half of the globe is removable, leaving the lower as the drinking cup. Ivory both from the beauty of its colour and the evenness of its structure has been a favourite material for drinking vessels at all times, and would seem to have been continuously used from the earliest period, whether derived from Asia or Africa, while the semi-fossil See also:mammoth ivory of See also:Siberia has not been neglected. In general, however, the vessels made from this material presented no essential See also:differences of form from those in wood, until the art of lathe-turning attained great perfection, when a wide field was opened for ingenuity and even extravagance of form. The most remarkable examples of the possibilities of this kind of See also:mechanical skill are seen in the productions of the See also:Nuremberg turners of the 17th century, whose elaborate and entirely useless See also:tours de force comprise among many other things standing cups of ivory sometimes 2 ft. high, exemplifying every eccentricity of which the lathe is capable. See also:Peter Zick (d. 1632) and his three sons were celebrated for such work. Several pieces, doubtless from their hands, are in the British Museum. The use of glass cups was not common in England until the 16th century, See also:Venice having practically the See also:monopoly of the See also:supply. A silver-mounted glass goblet which belonged to the great See also:Lord See also:Burghley is however, in the British Glass cups. Museum, where there is also a very large series of Venetian drinking glasses of various kinds, clear and See also:lace glass as well as some of the 15th-century goblets with enamelled designs, now of the greatest rarity. The relations of Venice with the East were of so intimate a character that the earlier forms of Venetian glasses were nearly identical with those of the Mahom- used in the same way, and Chinese and other See also:Oriental wares then of great variety, were often turned into cups and vases by ingeniously devised silver mounting. The use of drinking vessels either formed of actual horns or of other 16th- to be object design. This simple form probably has its origin in the horn cup made from the base of a cow's horn and closed at the smaller end. The later forms in the late 15th century and after, followed the fashion in other materials, and were raised on a tall foot, so that from the 16th century onwards the type of wine glass has hardly changed, except in details. An interesting variety in one detail is seen in the German fashion of providing an elaborate silver stand into which the foot of such an ordinary-shaped glass was made to See also:fit. Frequently, as might be expected, such stands are found without glasses, and their use then seems difficult to explain. Another characteristic German type is the " wiederkom," a vessel more conspicuous for capacity than for its artistic qualities. It is usually a cylindrical vessel of green glass often holding as much as a quart, elaborately enamelled with coats of arms and views of well-known places; and at times when the cup was a See also:wedding gift the figures of the See also:bride and bridegroom are seen upon it. A very fanciful kind of cup was known in England as a " yard of See also:ale, " a long tube of glass generally shaped like a See also:coach horn, but ending sometimes in three prongs as a See also:trident, the opening in the latter being at the end of the handle, which was about a yard in length. Small silver cups were often made in dozens with various devices, differing in each, such as the signs of the See also:zodiac, the occupations of the months, or figures of the classical gods and goddesses, engraved upon them. The See also:tankard came into fashion in the 16th century, a practical, but seldom graceful object. At first some See also:attempt was made, by shaping the sides, to attain to some artistic quality, but usually the tankard from the late 16th century to the present time is found with straight sides, either See also:vertical or contracting towards the See also:top, which is of course always furnished with a hinged lid. A material that has one obvious merit, that of being practically unbreakable, is See also:leather, and drinking cups were often made of it. 17th and The flagon called a "black See also:jack" is the best-known, 18th and examples are very common, mostly of the 17th century and 18th centuries. A See also:quaint fashion was to have types. a leather cup made in the form of a See also:lady's See also:shoe; this, however, was confined to Germany and might be thought in somewhat questionable taste. In the 17th and 18th centuries a great impetus was given to the See also:production of curious drinking vessels in pottery. In England at various potting centres a great number of cups called " tygs " were made: capacious mugs with several handles, three or four, See also:round the sides, so that the cup could be readily passed from one to the other. Many of these have quaint devices and See also:inscriptions upon them. Another favourite plan is to make a See also:jug with open-work round the See also:neck and a variety of spouts, one only communicating with the liquid. These " See also:puzzle jugs " no doubt caused a good deal of amusement when attempted by a novice, who would inevitably spill some of the contents. The horn of the See also:rhinoceros is much favoured by the Chinese as a material for drinking cups often of a somewhat archaic form. The dense structure of the horn is well adapted for the purpose, and its beautiful amber See also:hue makes the vessel a very agreeable object to the See also:eye. The usual form is of a boat shape on a square foot, and the carved decoration is often copied from that of the bronze vessels of the earlier dynasties. Others are treated in a freer and more naturalistic manner, the bowl being formed as the See also:flower of the See also:magnolia, and the entire horn, at times more than 2 ft. in length, is utilized in carrying out the design. One of this kind is in the See also:Victoria and See also:Albert Museum. Cups of the former type are commonly found imitated in ivory-white porcelain, and are known as " See also:libation cups." Rhinoceros horn is held by the Chinese to be an antidote against poison, a belief shared by other nations. There is but little to be said about the vessels used in the drinking of tea and coffee. In Europe the type has practically remained unchanged since the introduction of tea and coffee drinking, except that in the 18th century the tea-cups imported from See also:China had no handles, and were generally thinner than thecoffee cups. In See also:Japan there is a ceremonious way of drinking tea, known as Cha no yu. Here powdered green tea is used; the party assembles in a small See also:pavilion in a See also:garden, and the tea is made in accordance with a rigid See also:etiquette. Tea and The infusion is stirred with a whisk in a rudely cups. fashioned bowl, holding about a See also:pint, and passed from one See also:guest to another. The bowls are of very thick pottery, never of porcelain, and the most valued kind is that made in See also:Korea. In the drinking of See also:rice spirit (See also:sake) in Japan small wide shallow cups are used, made generally of porcelain, but sometimes of finely lacquered wood. Both kinds are usually ornamented with elaborate and sometimes allusive designs. Among savage races the most See also:peculiar drinking ceremony is that of See also:kava drinking in Polynesia, principally in the Fijian, Tongan and Samoan See also:groups. The best description of the See also:process is given in Mariner's See also:Tonga. The utenstls. See also:principal vessel is usually a large bowl, sometimes measuring 2 or 3 ft. in diameter, cut from a solid See also:block of wood. It has four short legs and an See also:ear at one side to which a rope of coco-nut fibre is generally attached. The liquid is prepared in this bowl and ladled out in small cups often made of coco-nut shells, and these are handed round with great ceremony. Both the bowl and the cups become coated in the inside with a highly polished layer, See also:pale See also:blue in colour; but this beautiful tint fades when the vessel is out of use, and it is therefore very rarely seen in specimens in Europe. The kava itself is prepared from the See also:root of a See also:tree of the See also:pepper See also:family (See also:Piper methysticum) ; the root is cut into pieces of a convenient size, and these are given to young men and See also:women of the See also:company, who masticate them, and the lumps thus shredded are placed in the large bowl, See also:water is poured over them, and the See also:mass is strained with great care by wringing it in strips of the inner bark of the hibiscus. The liquor is slightly intoxicating. If the Polynesian method of preparing kava as a drink is distasteful to our ideas, the favourite drinking bowl of the old Tibetans is even more so. See also:Friar See also:Odoric (14th century), quoted by See also:Yule, describes how the Tibetan youth " takes his See also:father's head and straightway cooks and eats it, and of the See also:skull he makes a goblet from which he and all his family always drink devoutly to the memory of the deceased father." This recalls See also:Livy's account of the See also:Boii in Upper See also:Italy, who made a drinking vessel of the head of the Roman See also:consul Postumus. Among the Tibetans skulls are still used, but generally for libations only; for this purpose great care is exercised in the selection of the skull, and the " points " of a good skull are well understood by the Lamas. (C. H. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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