Description:
English delft circular punch bowl decorated in blue with a brown rim edge, much of which has flaked off, with the well inscription "In each hand / Tacke a flwing/ glass & rownd the /Table let it pass". Traditional eighteenth-century recipes for punch included five ingredients: spirits (rum, brandy, or arrack), citrus (lime and lemons), spices, sugar, and water. Punch was ladled into wineglasses or could be drunk directly from the bowl. The method shocked one eighteenth-century French traveler, Comte de Ségur, who described "the custom, when one came for toasts, to pass around the table a great bowl of punch from which each guest was obliged in turn to drink." As the bowl was emptied, mottoes or rhymes in the well often prompted revelers to toast their companions and to continue drinking. This toast, which is unrecorded on any other punch bowl, is part of a tradition of inscribing drinking vessels: Other verses include "Drink About/ See it Out/ Come be quicker/ fill more liquor"; "A little more spirit would make this punch good"; and "Drink drink whilst ye have breath for there is no drinking after death". The interior has vines and two flying insects, and the exterior of the bowl is decorated with meandering vines, tendrils, and double brackets, a pattern that often includes a squirrel or rat sitting on the vine. This pattern is loosely based on a Chinese squirrel and grape vine design from the Jiajing reign (1522-1566), which was revived in the 17th century mainly on blue and white wares. Fragments with similar decoration have been excavated both in Bristol and London, and the James Geddy Workshop and Kitchen in Williamsburg, Virginia. The bowl has gently curving sides and an applied short, cylindrical foot rim.
Subjects:
Pottery; glaze (coating by location) Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+95.035 |
