Punch bowl

Date1770-1790

MediumHard-paste porcelain

DimensionsOH: 3 9/16" D: 7 3/4"

Credit LineGift of Mr. Joseph France

Object number2001-50

DescriptionMedium sized punch bowl with polychrome enamel decoration. Floral sprays are arranged around the exterior of the bowl with a basket of flowers motif on each side, placed within a shaped cartouche. There is an interior border around the rim consisting of a scrolled line bracketed by iron red lines and there is one small flower in the center of the interior.

A 3 1/4" crack descends from the rim and there is an 1/8" chip nearby.
Label TextPunchbowls like this were the heart of eighteenth-century entertaining, forming and maintaining friendships and important social and business connections. Both the drink and the word come from India, “punch” meaning ‘five’, the traditional number of ingredients: water, sugar, rum and other spirits, spices, and lemon. Hosts were judged by their recipes as well as by their conduct in the punch ceremony and the equipment they employed. Punch bowls were produced in many materials and a broad range of sizes.

This relatively small and simple Chinese export porcelain punchbowl is decorated in neoclassical style. The shaped reserve with its floral basket and the sprigs spaced around the exterior are fairly basic, as is the interior decoration with its small central flower and simple, scrolled band. Such a bowl would likely have been among the less expensive of the enameled wares and was probably outstripped by some blue and white examples.
ProvenanceFormerly owned by Joseph France's parents, Richard and Louisa F. France.