"Did you know that the champagne coupe is modeled after..."

December 13, 2014 7:23 AM

"Myth Busts: The Enduring Legacy of Breast-Shaped Glassware" On champagne, breast milk, and the enduring fascination with some women's bodies.
posted by apricot (16 comments total)

That's actually a Bust Myth Bust, I think.
posted by hank at 8:31 AM on December 13, 2014 [2 favorites]

Maybe there are some people who actually think that Marie Antoinette patiently stood with her left breast in a vat of slowly hardening Plaster of Paris, but having done the messy, vulnerable task myself, I'm fairly sure no one of her refinement would have even considered it.

I'm pretty sure no one has ever thought Marie Antoinette literally had a mould of her breast made into a glass, as opposed to the idea that the champagne glass was "modelled" on her breast. It's not a bad article - the point about breasts being measured in cups and being called "jugs" and "cans" (in the US anyway) was interesting for example. But I think she's not entirely understood the principle behind glasses modelled on women's breasts if she thinks this is proof that it didn't happen. (I've read before that it's a myth in relation to Marie Antoinette, but not because she would hardly have dipped her tit in some plaster of Paris because obviously.)
posted by billiebee at 8:54 AM on December 13, 2014 [2 favorites]

As for the coupe itself, which rose to prominence as sparkling wine did, it was the modified offshoot of a glassware look that worked for the cider and ale goblets that pleased aristocrats aesthetically. The commercial advancement of lead-fortified glass gave cups a brilliant luster, but also a substantial heft. As a result of the fortified glass's heaviness, glassblowers shortened stems and widened bowls on conventional goblets. The bowl of the coupe—designed specifically for drinking sparkling wine—was a smaller than that of its cider and ale counterparts because the liquid itself was more expensive and had a higher percentage of alcohol, and as such was consumed in smaller servings. Breasts don't explicitly come into play, but considering that a preoccupation with women's bodies has always been a constant, it is nevertheless entirely possible the original fortifiers of coupes had them on the mind.

Invented in England, by the English, who also invented sparkling wine.
posted by notyou at 9:00 AM on December 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

But I think she's not entirely understood the principle behind glasses modelled on women's breasts if she thinks this is proof that it didn't happen.

Especially if you watch the video in the article -- it was an interesting first try, but if they had been serious about it, they would have tried a couple of more times and figured out the right process.
posted by Dip Flash at 9:28 AM on December 13, 2014 [2 favorites]

There's something about the enduring impulse to reduce us to our bodies and make us vehicles of the glory of others - often against our will! - which persists in all kinds of storytelling. I think the impossibility of the ideal is also part of it. None of us will ever be as good or valuable to those who use us as they would like us to be, so we should also endure their responses, no matter what they are, for our failing to be the perfect willing object.
posted by Deoridhe at 9:46 AM on December 13, 2014 [2 favorites]

Pshaw. Next you'll tell me that Helen of Troy didn't launch ships with her face.
posted by XMLicious at 11:02 AM on December 13, 2014 [8 favorites]

It's worth watching the video included in the article to see the process and final ungainly result of her real breast mold-based glass.
posted by polymath at 1:41 PM on December 13, 2014

Every time I hear the "Marie Antoinette's breast" story, I solemnly assure everyone that it is true, and then say "so, do you know what the champagne flute you're holding is modeled after?"
posted by librosegretti at 3:26 PM on December 13, 2014 [12 favorites]

I am not sure I would want to drink out of a glass molded in the shape of my junk. It would be a shot glass if it were my breast. Some would say the same of my junk.
posted by 724A at 3:53 PM on December 13, 2014

Well, if breasts are the form for glasses, it's about time we got something to represent us; after all, every other object in the land is "phallic," right?

Is this really a thing? Has it always been a thing and I've just been oblivious to something so obvious?

(shaking my head at the same time I'm trying to figure out what kind of glass my boobs would be a good model for ...)
posted by aryma at 5:47 PM on December 13, 2014

The relationship between boobs and cups caught me out when giving a linguistics lecture to several hundred first year students once. (I'm sure I've told this story here before, so forgive me if you've already heard it.)

I wanted to tell them about Labov's famous study of where people draw the boundaries between terms for "cup", "mug", "bowl" etc. He showed participants this image and asked them to name each item.

So when I was preparing the lecture in my office, I googled something like "variety of cups and jugs" on Google Image Search and this was the first result. Instead of saving the image to a flashdrive, I just decided to pull it up live during the lecture.

So yeah, turns out "safe search" mode was on in my office, but not in the lecture hall. "Variety of cups and jugs" gets you very different images when safe search isn't on. On a giant screen at the front of the room, and mirrored on smaller screens all over the place.
posted by lollusc at 5:52 PM on December 13, 2014 [7 favorites]

Also, until I read this article, I totally thought the myth was about champagne flutes. I always imagined Marie Antoinette was kind of deformed.
posted by lollusc at 5:56 PM on December 13, 2014 [3 favorites]

The whole Marie Antoinette thing always struck me as kind of gross, especially the glee with which people would repeat it, since I don't think anyone actually believed it was true. There is definitely a certain dehumanization that our society treats women -- not even just referring to their body parts as objects, but also believing it's totally legit to just create literal objects from them.

I thought this was a really thoughtful and fun article. Maybe she was reaching for conclusions she didn't quite get to with the whole "well, let me try to have a glass made out of my breast" thing but she also makes a lot of clear connections I hadn't quite thought about in that way.
posted by darksong at 7:18 PM on December 13, 2014 [4 favorites]

That was a great article. Thanks for posting it.

I don't have anything to add to darksong's comment, just a question: why are all these champagne coupes (supposedly or actually) modelled on the women's *left* breasts? Even when you buy a pair of the Kate Moss coupes, they're both lefts. Is it because the left side is where the heart is, or is there another significance that I'm missing?

I think it could be kind of cool to have a set of glasses modelled on my, erm, assets, but (a) I am pretty juvenile and (b) they're mine to do what I like with, unlike the bosoms of these famous women.
posted by daisyk at 1:32 AM on December 14, 2014

why are all these champagne coupes (supposedly or actually) modelled on the women's *left* breasts? Even when you buy a pair of the Kate Moss coupes, they're both lefts. Is it because the left side is where the heart is, or is there another significance that I'm missing?

That's because you're thinking about breasts from a woman's viewpoint. We all know that breasts only exist as an object of pleasure for men. If a right-handed man desires to fondle a breast, he will reach for the left breast first. If he wants to fondle a breast shaped vessel, he will reach for it with his right hand, and if it's modeled after a right breast, it will feel "wrong". Of course, left handed men are at a loss here, but they live in a world with mostly right handed scissors, so I guess they've learned to muddle along.
posted by marsha56 at 8:45 AM on December 14, 2014 [5 favorites]

Oh. That makes a certain kind of sense, I guess. Ugh.
posted by daisyk at 1:10 PM on December 14, 2014 [1 favorite]