Glass Drinking Horn

Art Historical Context

This elegant Glass Drinking Horn, crafted between 575 and 625, offers a fascinating glimpse into early medieval craftsmanship during the Lombard (Langobardic) presence in Italy. Shaped like the animal-horn vessels long favored by Germanic peoples for feasting and rituals, the object transforms a traditional form into luminous glass. Standing about 8¼ inches long, its translucent material catches the light in ways that organic horn could not, suggesting both continuity with ancient Roman glassmaking techniques and adaptation to new cultural tastes. The choice of glass for such a vessel highlights the technical skill of early medieval artisans, who blew and manipulated the material into a stable, horn-like curve complete with a pointed tip. Likely used in ceremonial or high-status settings, it reflects the Lombards’ integration of Roman industrial knowledge with their own customs as they established kingdoms in Italy after 568. Today housed in the Metropolitan Museum’s medieval collection, this rare survivor invites us to imagine the lively banquets and social bonds it once helped celebrate.