Beginning in the sixteenth century, Chinese manufactories produced porcelain for a European, and later North American, market. A segment of these wares included shapes and designs specifically requested by European consumers. Scholars now often refer to porcelain made in response to European specifications as “Chinese export porcelain.” European trading companies would place orders for European utilitarian shapes, such as sets of plates and serving dishes, and communicate desired designs, like a family armorial crest.
Decorated in vivid enamel colors, the interior of this punch bowl shows a hunt, reinforced by two hunting scenes with English figures on the exterior. The foot and rim feature a rose diapered pattern with pink and orange floral swags. Such colorful porcelains were highly coveted and could be found in many households in Europe and in settler-colonial cities along the Atlantic coast. The stylized imagery fed into fantasies of East Asia and influenced European and American ceramic designs.
In particular, punch bowls became an important component of social rituals after the English East India Company, influenced by an Indian practice, introduced punch to England and the Americas in the seventeenth century. Generally, punch from this period contained alcohol, sugar, citrus juice, water, and spices and was served communally from a large bowl with a ladle.
Cynthia Kok
May 2025