Punch Bowl

Dateca. 1770

MediumTin-glazed earthenware (delft)

DimensionsH: 3 3/4" (9.5 cm); Diam: 9 1/2" (24.1 cm).

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1960-8

DescriptionPunch bowl. Shallow bowl with a high cylindrical foot ring. Whitish tin glaze decorated on the exterior in blue with an elaborate Chinese landscape including fishermen on bridges. On the interior, in polychrome, a ship under sail in blue, with touches of red on the Union Jack and ensign, mixed green washed sea, and a ribbon beneath inscribed "SUCCESS TO THE ENDEAVOR."
Label TextThe Endeavour referred to on this bowl was long thought to be the ship
James Cook sailed on his first trip to Australia, but the ship here has only two masts and Captain Cook's had three. It is now believed that ship
paintings on delft were generally accurate, which suggests that this
may be another Endeavour, one that does not show up in the records.
A punch bowl at the Victoria and Albert Museum dated 1766 depicts a
ship rendered very similarly to this, probably by the same hand. One in
the City Museum of Liverpool dated 1779 has an even more similar exterior and inscribed ribbon. Ship bowls of this type are normally attributed to Liverpool since many of the recorded ships they depict operated out of that port.
Inscribed"SUCCESS TO THE ENDEAVOR."
MarkingsNo
ProvenanceTilley & Co., London