Punch Pot
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The consumption of punch and wine brought about the production of an array of ceramic vessels for serving these popular beverages. Originating in India and brought to England by British sailors, punch derives its name from the Hindi word panch, or five, referring to the five traditional punch ingredients: water, sugar, citrus, spices and spirits, usually brandy, rum or red wine. Punch, served to a group of guests from bowls or punch pots, was mainly the purview of men, and the ability to prepare the best punch was a point of pride. England imported wines from Spain, Portugal, Germany and the Canary Islands, which were decanted from casks to wine bottles, such as those displayed here.
Mrs. Jane Brooke (née Skelton, b. ca. 1857) Childerley Hall, Cambridge, England;
Her sale, The Brooke Collection of Early English Pottery, Sotheby’s, London, June 13, 1929, lot 169;
Bryan T Harland (1865-1930), Croydon, London;
His posthumous sale The Harland Collections: The Well-known Collection of Early English Pottery; Various Works of Art by Sotheby and Co., London, February 11, 1931, lot 155;
Mr. Frank P. (1861-1957) and Mrs. Harriet Burnap (née Call, d. 1947), Kansas City, MO, by 1941;
Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1941
D. Barrett Tanner, “Burnap Collection of English Pottery, Part IV, ‘Agate’ and Other ‘Whieldon’ Wares,” The Magazine Antiques vol. 50 (July 1946): (repro.).
Ross E. Taggart, The Frank P. and Harriet C. Burnap Collection of English Pottery in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery, rev. ed. (1953; Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1967), 153, 145 (repro.).
