The museum collection includes a measuring mug — the so-called one-fortieth mug. One-fortieth of a bucket was a unit of measurement for the volume of liquid. It was applied in the Russian Empire before the introduction of the metric system. It was mostly used to measure the volume of alcohol products.
The first such mugs were made of wood. They were decorated with various scenes and symbols that reflected the local customs of the region where the beverage was produced.
Later, mugs were made of clay. In this form, they existed until the outbreak of plague in 1346. During the epidemic, each mug was equipped with a lid to prevent the spread of infection. People were not allowed to touch the rim with bare hands. The lid was lifted by pressing a lever on the side.
People would drink water, milk, beer, and other beverages from such a mug. As the mugs were made of the copper alloy, they were not designed for liquids containing acids.
As a rule, the coachmen always brought a one-fortieth mug along. It was more convenient for them to visit pubs and taverns with their own mugs.
The Russians had the following system of units of measurement for the volume of liquids. A bucket equaled one-fortieth of a barrel, or ten mugs, or 30 pounds of water. It was also equal to 20 bottles of vodka or 16 bottles of wine.
“The main unit for measuring the volume of alcoholic beverages (primarily, bread wine) was a bucket. The bucket with the state emblem had a height of 8 vershoks (35.6 centimeters) and a diameter of 4.66 vershoks. There are various estimates of the volume of this bucket in historiographic sources. According to experimental data obtained by <…>, it had a volume o 30.3 pounds of water’, Aleksey Igorevich Razdorsky, a candidate of historical sciences, wrote in his article “Measuring and Packaging Units in Customs and Tavern Books of Russian Cities of the 17th Century — the First Half of the 18th Century“.
The displayed mug was made by the Shaposhnikov workshop which was known for producing accurate and functional volume measures for liquids.
