Introduction
The Roemer is one of the most distinctive and immediately recognisable forms in the history of European glass. Squat, generous, and covered in the characteristic applied blobs known as prunts, it is a vessel that speaks directly of the convivial drinking culture of the German-speaking world and the Low Countries — of Rhenish wine, of guild halls and tavern tables, of a tradition of glassmaking that stretches back to the medieval period. For collectors, Roemers offer a fascinating alternative to the English drinking glass tradition, with their own vocabulary of forms, decorative techniques, and regional variations that reward close study and careful acquisition.
Origins and History
The Roemer — the name is thought to derive from the German römer, meaning Roman, though the etymology is disputed — emerged as a distinct glass form in the Rhineland and the Low Countries during the 16th century, developing from earlier medieval beaker and cup forms. By the late 16th and early 17th centuries it had become the dominant drinking vessel for wine across the German-speaking world and the Netherlands, a status it retained well into the 18th century.
The Roemer is inseparable from the tradition of Waldglas — forest glass — the green-tinted soda-lime glass produced in the glasshouses of the Rhineland, the Spessart, the Bohemian forests, and the Low Countries from the medieval period onwards. Waldglas takes its name from the forest setting of the glasshouses, which relied on wood-fired furnaces and used local plant ash as a flux. The characteristic green or yellow-green colour of Waldglas — produced by iron and other impurities in the raw materials — is not a defect but an integral part of the aesthetic, and the finest Roemers are valued precisely for the depth and quality of their colour.
The Roemer appears frequently in Dutch and Flemish still-life painting of the 17th century — the golden age of Northern European painting — where it is depicted with a specificity and affection that confirms its central place in the material culture of the period. Painters including Jan Davidsz. de Heem, Pieter Claesz., and Willem Claesz. Heda depicted Roemers with extraordinary fidelity, capturing the play of light through the green glass, the texture of the prunts, and the coiled foot with a precision that makes these paintings invaluable documents of the form.
Nationality and Regional Variations
While the Roemer is most closely associated with the Rhineland and the Netherlands, it was produced across a wide geographic area, and regional variations in form, colour, and decoration allow the experienced collector to make broad attributions of origin.
Rhenish Roemers
The Rhineland — the region of western Germany along the Rhine valley — was the heartland of Roemer production. Rhenish Roemers are typically characterised by a deep, rich green colour, bold raspberry prunts, and a substantial coiled foot. The glass tends to be relatively thick-walled and the overall form robust and generous. Rhenish examples from the 16th and early 17th centuries are the most sought-after by collectors and the most likely to appear in major auction house sales.
Dutch and Flemish Roemers
Dutch and Flemish Roemers tend to be somewhat more refined in form than their Rhenish counterparts — the bowl is often more elongated, the stem more slender, and the overall proportions more elegant. The colour ranges from the deep green of Waldglas to a lighter, more yellow-green tone. Dutch Roemers are frequently depicted in still-life paintings and are well documented in the literature. Some Dutch examples were subsequently engraved — Dutch engravers, particularly those working in diamond-point and stipple techniques, applied their skills to Roemers as well as to other glass forms, and engraved Dutch Roemers are among the most valuable pieces in this collecting area.
German Regional Variations
Beyond the Rhineland, Roemers were produced in the Spessart, Thuringia, Bohemia, and Silesia, each region producing glass with slightly different colour characteristics and formal qualities. Bohemian and Silesian examples tend toward a lighter, more yellow-green tone than the deep Rhenish green, reflecting differences in the local raw materials used in the glass batch.
English Roemers
Roemers were also produced in England, particularly during the late 16th and early 17th centuries when immigrant Lorrainer and Venetian glassmakers were establishing the English glass industry. English Roemers are typically in a lighter green Waldglas and tend to be somewhat less robust in form than Continental examples. They are relatively rare and of considerable historical interest as evidence of the Continental influence on early English glassmaking.
Form and Structure
The Roemer has a distinctive three-part structure that sets it apart from virtually all other glass forms:
The Bowl
The bowl of a Roemer is typically ovoid or cylindrical — rounded and generous, wider than it is tall in earlier examples, becoming more elongated in later production. The bowl sits directly on the stem without a separate merese or collar, the junction between bowl and stem being formed as a continuous curve. The walls of the bowl are relatively thin compared to the stem, and the interior is smooth and undecorated — all the decorative interest of the Roemer is concentrated on the exterior of the stem.
Some Roemers, particularly later examples, have bowls with mould-blown ribbing — vertical ribs formed by blowing the gather into a ribbed mould before further shaping. This ribbing, which runs from the base of the bowl upward, adds texture and catches the light attractively.
The Stem
The stem of the Roemer is its most characteristic and visually distinctive element. It is a hollow cylinder of glass — formed by winding a thread of molten glass around a temporary core or by blowing — to which applied decoration is added while the glass is still hot. The stem is typically wider than it is tall, giving the Roemer its characteristic squat, stable profile.
The decoration of the stem consists primarily of prunts — blobs of applied glass, pressed or tooled into various forms — arranged in horizontal rows around the circumference of the stem. The prunts serve both a decorative and a functional purpose: they provide grip for the hand, preventing the smooth glass from slipping, and they add visual weight and texture to the stem.
The Foot
The foot of the Roemer is formed by winding a thread of molten glass in a tight coil around a conical former, producing a spirally wound foot of several turns. This coiled foot — sometimes called a Fadenfuß (thread foot) in German — is one of the most immediately recognisable features of the Roemer and one of the clearest indicators of authenticity in antique examples. The coils should be tight, even, and well fused; loose, irregular, or poorly fused coils may indicate later or lower-quality production.
The number of coils varies — typically between three and six turns — and the diameter of the foot is generally wider than the stem, providing a stable base. On the finest examples, the coils are perfectly regular and the glass of the foot is the same colour and quality as the rest of the vessel.
Prunts: Types and Identification
The prunts applied to the Roemer stem are one of the primary bases for dating, attribution, and quality assessment. Several distinct prunt types are found:
Raspberry Prunts
The most common and most characteristic Roemer prunt, the raspberry prunt is formed by pressing a blob of applied glass with a tool bearing a pattern of small points or bosses, producing a surface texture resembling a raspberry or blackberry. Raspberry prunts are found on Roemers from the 16th century onwards and are the defining decorative element of the classic Rhenish Roemer. The quality of raspberry prunts varies considerably — the finest examples have sharply defined, evenly spaced points; lesser examples have blurred or irregular textures.
Claw Prunts
Claw prunts — also known as Krallen in German — are formed by pulling the applied blob of glass outward with a tool while it is still hot, producing a pointed, claw-like projection. Claw prunts are associated with earlier glass forms, particularly the Krautstrunk (cabbage stalk) and Igel (hedgehog) beakers that preceded the Roemer, and their presence on a Roemer-form vessel suggests an early date or a transitional form. They are less common than raspberry prunts on true Roemers but are found on some earlier examples.
Pointed Prunts
Pointed prunts are simple blobs of applied glass drawn to a point without further tooling. They are found on some earlier and simpler Roemers and on related glass forms.
Lion Mask Prunts
Lion mask prunts — formed by pressing the applied blob into a mould bearing a lion mask design — are found on some higher-quality Roemers, particularly Dutch examples of the 17th century. They are considerably rarer than raspberry prunts and add significant value and interest to a piece.
Smooth Prunts
Smooth prunts — plain, undecorated blobs of applied glass — are found on some simpler Roemers and on related forms. They lack the decorative interest of raspberry or lion mask prunts but are an integral part of the Roemer tradition.
Colour
The colour of a Roemer is one of the primary indicators of its origin, date, and quality. The range of colours found in antique Roemers reflects the variety of raw materials and production traditions across the glass-producing regions of northern Europe.
- Deep forest green — the classic colour of Rhenish Waldglas, produced by iron impurities in the sand and ash used in the glass batch. The finest deep green Roemers have a rich, saturated colour that varies in tone from blue-green to yellow-green depending on the specific composition of the batch and the firing conditions. This colour is the most prized by collectors.
- Yellow-green — a lighter, more yellow tone, associated with Bohemian, Silesian, and some Dutch production. Less saturated than the deep Rhenish green but attractive in its own right.
- Pale green — a very light green, almost colourless in thin sections, found on some later and lighter-walled examples.
- Amber and brown — some Waldglas Roemers have an amber or brownish tone, produced by higher iron content or different firing conditions. These are less common than green examples.
- Colourless — later Roemers, particularly those produced in the 18th century as the Waldglas tradition gave way to clearer glass production, may be in colourless or near-colourless glass. These lack the characteristic colour of the classic Roemer but may be of fine quality and considerable age.
Related Forms
The Krautstrunk
The Krautstrunk (cabbage stalk) is an earlier beaker form, typically cylindrical with claw prunts, that is a direct ancestor of the Roemer. Dating from the 15th and early 16th centuries, Krautstrunk beakers are rarer than Roemers and of considerable historical interest as evidence of the evolution of the form.
The Berkemeyer
The Berkemeyer is a transitional form between the Krautstrunk and the fully developed Roemer, with a wider, more flaring bowl and raspberry prunts on the stem. Dating from the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Berkemeyers are found in both Rhenish and Dutch production and are depicted in some of the earliest Dutch still-life paintings.
The Passglas
The Passglas is a tall, cylindrical communal drinking vessel, typically in green Waldglas, marked with horizontal trails of glass at regular intervals that indicated the measure each drinker was expected to consume before passing the glass to the next person. Passglas vessels are associated with the same drinking culture as the Roemer and are found in the same regional tradition.
Engraved Roemers
Some Roemers — particularly Dutch examples of the 17th century — were subsequently engraved with wheel or diamond-point decoration. Dutch engravers applied their considerable skills to the smooth bowl of the Roemer, producing armorial decoration, portraits, landscapes, and allegorical scenes of great refinement. Engraved Roemers by known Dutch engravers — or with documented armorial connections — are among the most valuable pieces in the entire field of antique glass and appear in the collections of major museums worldwide.
Authentication and What to Look For
The Roemer has been reproduced and imitated since the 19th century, and the collector must be alert to later examples presented as antique.
- The coiled foot — examine the coils carefully. On genuine antique examples, the coils are tight, even, and well fused, with the same colour and quality of glass as the rest of the vessel. Later reproductions often have looser, more irregular coils or coils of slightly different colour.
- Prunt quality — raspberry prunts on genuine antique Roemers have a sharpness and irregularity that reflects hand production. Later reproductions tend to have more uniform, mechanical-looking prunts.
- Glass quality — hold the vessel up to a light source and look for seeds, striae, and inclusions consistent with hand production. Later reproductions in industrial glass will be notably cleaner and more uniform.
- Wear — genuine antique Roemers will show wear on the foot consistent with centuries of use — fine scratches on the base of the coiled foot from contact with table surfaces. The absence of any wear on a piece purporting to be antique warrants caution.
- Colour consistency — the colour of the glass should be consistent throughout the vessel. Variations in colour between bowl, stem, and foot may indicate repairs or later additions.
Collecting Roemers
Roemers offer the collector a rich and rewarding field that is distinct from, but complementary to, the English drinking glass tradition. A collection built around the evolution of the form — from Krautstrunk through Berkemeyer to the fully developed Roemer — tells a coherent story about the development of Northern European glass culture across three centuries. Alternatively, a collection focused on colour — assembling examples of the full range of Waldglas tones — or on prunt types provides a clear and satisfying collecting framework.
For the collector of English antique glass, a Roemer or two provides invaluable context — a reminder that the English lead glass tradition of the 18th century did not emerge in isolation, but was shaped by the Continental glassmaking traditions that preceded and surrounded it. The immigrant Lorrainer glassmakers who established the English industry in the late 16th century brought the Roemer tradition with them, and its influence can be traced in the earliest English glass forms.
A fine Rhenish Roemer of the 17th century, deep green, covered in sharp raspberry prunts, with a tight coiled foot — held up to the light in a way that makes the glass glow — is one of the great pleasures of antique glass collecting. It connects the hand directly to a tradition of making and drinking that stretches back five centuries, and to a world in which the quality of the vessel was inseparable from the quality of the experience it was made to serve.
The Wonder Room occasionally offers antique Roemer glasses and Northern European glass of historical significance. Browse our current collection or explore further guides in Collector's Insights.