- Title
- Monteith Bowl
- Date Made
- circa 1880
- Medium
- Parcel-gilt silver, repoussé and chased
- Dimensions
- 5 1/2 × 12 3/4 × 9 1/4 in. (13.97 × 32.39 × 23.5 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2013.220.1
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
A Monteith bowl is a large bowl typically made of silver, but also in alternative metals, porcelain, or glass. The rim is scalloped or notched in order to suspend wineglasses by their feet to chill them by immersing them in the ice water contained in the bowl. The scalloped rim is sometimes detachable in order to convert the vessel to a punch bowl. Monteith bowls were first created in the late 17th century. Their name is traditionally associated with Monsiur Monteigh, a popular tavern singer who wore a cloak with a scalloped bottom edge.
This wide deep bowl has a notched rim with horizontal foliate handles. The side of the bowl is encircled with a band of primary decoration consisting of eight signs of the zodiac as they are normally depicted in Calcutta and Burmese silver, which differ slightly from the standard Western zodiacal signs: Aries/April/ram; Taurus/May/bull; Leo/August/lion; Scorpio/November/scorpion; Sagittarius/December/archer; Capricorn/January/makara (mythical aquatic animal); Aquarius/February/water pot; and Pisces/March/fish. The signs are framed by lobed arches with a Mughal-style flowering plant repeated in the interstices. A border of stylized acanthus leaves connects to a round pedestal foot, which is decorated with a scroll of lotus leaves alternating with palm fronds.
On the bottom is a maker’s mark stamped with the artist’s name and locale: Grish Chunder Dutt | Calcutta [modern Kolkata] | Bhowanipore [modern Bhabanipur, a suburb of Kolkata].