Terms and conditions of use
Punchbowl
(1700)
- Medium
- earthenware (tin-glazed)
- Measurements
- 20.0 × 26.0 × 26.0 cm
- Place/s of Execution
- Delft, the Netherlands
- Accession Number
- 2014.1991
- Department
- International Decorative Arts
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased with funds donated by Prof Barbara van Ernst AM in memory of Henk van Ernst, 2014
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited - Gallery location
- 17th & 18th Century Decorative Arts & Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International - About this work
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Punchbowls are a rare utensil to survive in Dutch delftware. They were used for mixing and serving punch, a beverage brought to England from India by the East India Company in the seventeenth century, and which subsequently spread to other European countries. The name derives from the Sanskrit panç, meaning five, a reference to the five ingredients which made up the beverage: alcohol, sugar, lemon, water and tea or spices. Punchbowls are often depicted in engravings and paintings of the period, showing rowdy and drunken evenings that suggest why these fragile bowls are so scarce today.