Mazer (drinking vessel)
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In the Germanic tradition, a mazer is a special type of drinking vessel, properly made of maple wood, and so-called from the spotted or birdseye marking on the wood (Ger. Maser, spot, marking, especially on wood; cf. measles).
These drinking vessels are shallow bowls without handles, with a broad flat foot and a knob or boss in the centre of the inside, known technically as the print. They were made from the 13th to the 16th centuries, and were the most prized of the various wooden cups in use, and so were ornamented with a rim of precious metal, generally of silver or silver gilt; the foot and the print being also of metal. The depth of the mazers seems to have decreased in course of time, those of the 16th century that survive being much shallower than the earlier examples. There are examples with wooden covers with a metal handle, such as the Flemish and German mazers in the Franks Bequest in the British Museum. On the metal rim is usually an inscription, religious or bacchanalian, and the print was also often decorated. The later mazers sometimes had metal straps between the rim and the foot.
A very fine mazer with silver gilt ornamentation 3 inches deep and 9 1/8 inches in diameter was sold in the Braikenridge collection in 1908 for £2300. It bears the London hall-mark of 1534.
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- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
