Glass was used for both extremely intricate artworks and very simple storage containers at the same time. Glassblowing not only offers a sheer unending diversity of forms and designs, but is also a quick process. The technique of blowing Glass into a mould, usually with several parts, enabled more complex Glass designs to be produced quickly and inexpensively too. The figures on the Düsseldorf beaker have been identified as the messenger of the gods Mercury (with the ram’s head and caduceus), the god of marriage ceremonies Hymenaios (with the burning torch and loutrophoros, a ritual vessel), the demigod Hercules (with the calf) and the personification of winter (with a kill). The constellation is taken from the wedding of Peleus and Thetis and alludes to the Roman culture of celebration. Vessels such as this may have been sold as souvenirs at public events. The Düsseldorf Glass beaker and a fragmentary specimen in Norfolk are hitherto the only known beakers of this group made of violet Glass (Dedo von Kerssenbrock-Krosigk)