Description:
English pearlware small punch bowl decorated in brown, blue, and orange with a blue and orange fish surrounded by the words "Drink" and "Round" in the inside center of the well, and supported on an applied foot rim. There are brown painted enamel bands around the bowl: one in the center of well; two on the inner rim; two on the outer rim; and one on the outer body. Fish motifs appeared frequently in the wells of punch bowls between 1740 and 1780. The fish acts as a visual pun; the bowl needs to be kept full of liquid so that the fish can continue to swim. The color palette fo this bowl is in the so-called "Prattware colors" after the potter, William Pratt, who developed the palette at his factory in Lane Delph, Staffordshire. These are the typical range of colors available for underglaze painted decoration, a palette limited to colors derived from metallic oxides that could withstand the heat of the glaze firing.

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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+1998.6.2

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