Claw Beaker

Elaborate glass beakers dating from c 500 AD onward in Early Saxon graves and Frankish burials. Also called Rüsselbecher, the beakers have two superimposed rows of hollow, trunklike protrusions curving down to rejoin the wall of the vessel above a small button foot. In form they are similar to free-standing conical beakers, but they are embellished by a series of unusual clawlike protrusions. In many cases the glass is tinted brown, blue, or yellow. The beakers were probably made in Cologne or Trier, Germany.

Glass claw beakers date from the late 6th-7th centuries and occur in Early Saxon graves and Frankish burials. In form they are similar to free-standing conical beakers, but they are embellished by a series of unusual claw-like protrusions, and in many cases the glass is tinted in shades of brown, blue and yellow. These beakers were probably made in glasshouses either in Cologne or Trier in Germany.