Punch Bowl

Date1770-1790

MediumHard-paste porcelain

DimensionsOH: 3 1/4"; Diam.: 6 11/16"

Credit LineGift of Mr. Joseph France

Object number2001-52

DescriptionChinese export porcelain small punch bowl with polychrome enamel decoration. Small sprays of flowers are arranged around the exterior of the bowl with larger floral arrangements within oval cartouches on each side. The interior border is decorated with a pink scrolled line between two black lines. There is one flower in the bottom of the bowl on the interior.

Three 2 1/2" cracks descend from the rim. Enamels in good condition.
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 small Chinese export porcelain punch bowl employs rose and green enamels in a neoclassical motif including roses and rosebuds bound in blue ribbon within oblong cartouches of green 'husk chain'.
ProvenanceFormerly owned by Joseph France's parents, Richard and Louisa F. France.