Imperial Eagle Beaker - History and Meaning

History and Meaning

In the 16th and 17th century representations of the emperor, electors and the imperial eagle were very popular. Images on wood and copper engravings of well-known contemporary artists often served as models for the decoration of implements and objects of daily use. Apart from the imperial eagle beaker, drinking vessels made of stoneware, pewter plates and stove tiles also carried these motifs.

A beaker from 1571, which is currently on display at the British Museum in London, is considered the oldest exemplar. One of the five oldest beakers from 1572 is on display at the 'Württembergischen Landesmuseum' in Stuttgart. Imperial eagle beakers continued to be produced almost unaltered until the middle of the eighteenth century, at which time it seems as if production came to an end. The beakers were mainly produced in Bohemia, Saxony, Thuringia, Hesse and in the Fichtelgebirge. The significance of the imperial eagle beakers for the glassware craft in those regions can be seen by the fact that the glassmakers' guild of the Bohemian Kreibitz in 1669 demanded the production of an imperial eagle beaker as a masterpiece in one and a half days.

Through the Imperial Eagles the ideal of the durable unity of the Holy Roman Empire took decorative shape and demonstrates the emotional relationship of a broad public to the Empire. The imperial eagle was mostly pictured in the form of a quaternion eagle which related the theory of quaternions to one of the most important symbols of the Empire. As the structure of the Empire was in need of explanation, even for contemporaries, the quaternion model was meant to depict the fabric of the Empire. It was developed in the 14th century and remained popular until the end of the Empire. The model divided the classes of the Empire into fictitious groups of four, the quaternions, whose members shared one common feature: hence, the group of worldly electors, the margraves, et cetera. This, however, often caused misleading and inappropriate constellations due to the endeavour to come up to the quaternion. Nevertheless, the success of the model was not affected.

Early modern drinking culture, in which toasting was a very important custom, resulted in the beaker being connected to the "Imperial Eagle" as an expression of solidarity between the owner and the Empire. This connection with the Empire was especially strong for the "man on the street" and among the lower classes generally. For this reason the Imperial Eagle Beaker was mostly found amongst the lower aristocracy and the bourgeoisie; i.e. amongst Patricians and in city guilds. Most of the proven beaker-owners were craftsmen and guilds. Only a few exemplars have been found in baronial ownership.

The term "Roman Empire" was frequently used in connection with the Imperial Eagle beaker. In Richard Braithwaite's (1588-1673) work "Disputatio inauguralis theoretico-practica jus potandi", written in 1616 under the pseudonym "Blasius Multibibus“ and published anonymously in the same year in the German translation with the title "Ius Potandi" (or "Drinking laws"), we can read that, to ward off melancholy:

one must invite merry men / and good friends round / to wipe the dust off the Roman Empire and other drinking lords (? vnd andern Sauff Lauxen )/ and so encourage merry revelling and drinking parties.

The historian Sven Lüken assumes that Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was thinking of an Imperial Eagle beaker when he has the revellers in Auerbach’s cellar sing:

The dear Holy Roman Empire, how does it stay together?

At the end of the 19th century, Imperial Eagle beakers were frequently faked.