Vintage glasses

Start with the relief, because it sets the look more than the shape does. Vertical ribs make a glass look slimmer and belong to the art deco line. Pressed flower and bee motifs are rounder and more rustic and come from the French tradition. A smooth wall with only a heavy foot reads as nineteen-fifties. Choose one language and keep to it across the table, because two kinds of relief side by side look messy rather than collected.

Then the size, and that is where the surprise lies. A vintage wine glass is smaller than a modern one: around 32 to 33 cl, where a present-day red wine glass quickly reaches 45 cl. That is not a shortcoming but the starting point of the period, because a 12 cl measure still sits comfortably in such a bowl. For water and soft drinks you end up with the tumblers of 34 to 35 cl, for an aperitif with the liqueur glasses of around 11 cl, and for sparkling wine you choose between a 17 cl flute and a 16 cl coupe. With coloured glass, you are best off sticking to one shade alongside clear.

Vintage glassware is at its best with drinks that have colour. The relief refracts the light and you only see that when something shines through it: an amber negroni in a low faceted glass, or a kir royal in which the crème de cassis rises from the bottom. Clear water in a ribbed glass is lovely, but the effect is only half there.

Pour a little less full than you are used to. The old sizing assumes smaller portions, and in a 33 cl wine glass you pour to just below the widest point, so about a third. Alternate coloured and clear glasses on the table rather than one colour per person; that reads as a collection that has grown and not as a purchase. And turn the relief towards the guest when a glass carries a motif on one side only.

Pressed glass is thicker than blown glass and therefore less fragile, but the relief does hold on to more. Limescale and drying marks creep into the grooves and are harder to polish out of there than off a smooth wall. Wash on a short programme, rinse afterwards with clean water and dry while the glass is still warm; the rest then evaporates by itself. A dash of vinegar in the rinsing water removes stubborn limescale rings.

The exception is the gold rim. It is vapour-deposited and wears faster in the dishwasher than the glass beneath, certainly at high temperatures and with aggressive tablets. Wash glasses with gold by hand in lukewarm suds and do not use a scouring pad. For the rest, the usual rule applies: store them upright so the rim rests on nothing, and do not let stems touch one another in the basket.

If you are looking for vintage in one particular range, most of the choice runs through the brand. The Turkish maker Pasabahce reissues its historic press shapes in complete lines, from water jug to liqueur glass, so you can lay a whole table in one style. If it is the heavier, rustic French pressed glass with bee and flower motifs you are after, you end up at La Rochère. And if you only want the shape of the past without the relief, look at the ordinary tumblers and wine glasses in the menu alongside.