Punch Bowl (c. 1770): Art, History and Details

Punch Bowl (c. 1770) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Worcester Porcelain Factory (British, established 1751).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Encircling the exterior of this bowl are four segments containing fanciful birds with wide eyes, long necks, and colorful feathers. Both the birds and their frames were inspired by Chinese motifs that had been adapted and popularized by the French. During the 1700s, punch drinking was well suited for large social gatherings and served as a popular alternative to tea drinking. In fact, the exotic birds and scrolling cartouches featured on this porcelain punch bowl also adorned many of Worcester’s tea services.

Object facts

• Title: Punch Bowl
• Date: c. 1770
• Creator attribution: Worcester Porcelain Factory (British, established 1751)
• Culture: England, Worcester
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: soft-paste porcelain
• Dimensions: Face: 11.5 x 27.7 cm (4 1/2 x 10 7/8 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1938.331

A detail from the museum

The subtle scale-like pattern on this dish was closely associated with porcelain designs from Worcester during the 1700s.

Collection credit

Given in memory of John MacGregor Jr. and Mary Folger MacGregor, by Mrs. John F. McGuire

Further reading listed by the museum

• Foote, Helen. "A Worcester Punch Bowl." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 25, no. 9 (November 1938): 164-165.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.