A tall lidded stein, cut as if into a copper plate: acanthus scrolls and a crowned coat of arms on its body, above it in a semicircle "Hopfen und Malz, Gott erhalt's". Toward the bottom the hatching frays out into fine strokes.
Product description
The beer stein T-shirt shows a tall lidded stein on the front, drawn like an old copperplate engraving. Above the stein the toast "Hopfen und Malz, Gott erhalt's" stretches in a wide arc: hops and malt, may God preserve them. A short stroke sets the second half of the line off from the first. The serif letters are finely speckled on the inside, the way unevenly applied ink looks.
The lettering does not run straight, it follows a semicircle. On the left it starts low at collar height and climbs. At the apex it stands almost upside down, on the right it falls away again. That way the sentence encloses the design like a wreath. The capitals stand wide, the serifs are strong and slightly rounded at their ends.
The lid sits on the vessel as a flat dome. On top it carries a small knob. Below that a narrow band of twisted scrollwork runs around the rim. On the right the thumb lift rises, a curved lever on a sturdy hinge. From there the handle swings down in a wide arc and settles back against the body.
The real work sits on the body. A crowned shield looks out from behind dense acanthus leaves. Beside it a single ear of grain bends upward, slim and long-awned. Palmettes close the field off above and below. Two encircling ridges divide the vessel into neck, body and foot.
Everything is set in cross-hatching, line beside line. Not a single surface is simply filled in. Where it should go dark, the lines move closer together. Where light falls, they stand far apart and let the light ground show through. That is how roundness is built out of nothing but straight strokes.
Toward the bottom the stein grows lighter instead of heavier. The broad foot rests on two rings, then the hatching breaks off. Vertical strokes carry on downward and grow thinner as they go. In the end only single dots are left. The design ends without an edge and therefore does not look like a label stuck on.
On the front the drawing works with only two values: deep charcoal for the lines and the light ground between them. From a few paces away you read the silhouette alone. Up close the same surface breaks into hundreds of individual strokes. Two distances, two pictures, the same design.
A second design stands on the back, and there the color changes. What you see is a bound sheaf of grain. The ears fan upward, their awns standing far out like fine needles. Each grain is laid out as a pointed oval with a bright ridge down the middle.
A twisted cord holds the bundle together. It is wound four times around the stalks and crosses at the front into an X. At the bottom the stalks stand on their cut ends. The sheaf is laid out in cream, ocher and dark brown, framed all around by a light contour. The stroke is broader than on the front and recalls a woodcut more than an engraving.
The two sides belong together and tell the same thing from both ends. On the back stands the grain as it comes off the field. On the front stands the vessel it belongs in at the end. The toast names exactly these two ingredients. Turn around and you supply the backstory to the picture on the chest.
The line itself is older than any brewery advertising. Hops give beer its bitterness and make it keep. Malt supplies the sugar that the yeast later turns into alcohol. Anyone who brought both well through the brew had reason for gratitude. Out of that gratitude the saying grew, half blessing and half toast.
The beer stein T-shirt suits everyone who likes the brewing craft and appreciates old graphic art. At a funfair it fits in without effort. At the regulars' table it is the back that gets noticed, as soon as somebody stands up. On a brewery tour or at a tasting the design sits in exactly the right place. Anyone looking for a gift for a beer lover finds one here with real craft behind it instead of a pun.
