Delftware Punch Bowl

Delftware punch bowl, tin-glazed earthenware, decorated in cobalt blue. Of rounded form with a slightly everted rim set on a pronounced footring. The exterior is painted with alternating figural roundels showing figures in garden landscapes, separated by diagonally hatched panels with foliate motifs. The interior with a central floral spray beneath a continuous wave-scroll border.
The size, interior decoration, and footed form identify this piece as a punch bowl, intended for the fashionable communal drink of punch, which became widespread in northern Europe around 1700. Earlier bowls of similar form were used for food, but by the early 18th century potters in both Delft and England (London and Bristol) produced dedicated punch bowls for the growing market.