In the ceramic exhibition hall of the Guanfu Museum, you can see a huge painted bowl with an open mouth, deep curved abdomen and a circle foot, and the bowl mouth is so large that a person needs to open his arms to surround it. The bowl wall is painted with a wide color depiction of gold, the bowl depicts a cluster of chrysanthemums, and two of the large opening lights of the outer mural are the lively scenes of the thirteen lines of Guangzhou on the bank of the Pearl River at that time, and the foreign countries that set up foreign offices in Guangzhou are planted with their own flags.
The Flag of France uses the white flag that was used before the Revolution, indicating that the bowl should have been made in the middle of the 18th century or earlier. Through the introduction, it is learned that this is a wine set exported to the United Kingdom to serve wine, called "Punch Bowl". For this reason, I can't help but wonder, could the British in the 18th century drink as much as they could? Later, it was understood that this punch wine and its wine bowl had a different connotation.
<h1>A. Punch and Punch Bowl</h1>
1． The origin of punch.
The word "punch" is transliterated from the English word "punch", punch originated in India, the predecessor of today's cocktail, originally made of fermented or distilled liquor as a base, with different fruits, sugar, tea, spices and other raw materials blended.
In the early 17th century, the British brought the drink and its preparation from India to England through the East India Company, a colonial agency, and later to Europe and the Americas. Its alcohol content can be mixed in different proportions, and in the mid-18th century, the British Royal Navy began to ration water-based punch to sailors and soldiers serving at sea to prevent them from drinking too much and getting it wrong.
Due to the addition of various fruits, the taste of Punch has become diverse and meets the needs of different people, but sour and sweet are the main flavors of this type of wine. As a traditional drink, punch is usually prepared and served in large bowls, which are the punch bowls mentioned in this article.
2． Ceramic punch bowl.
The bowls used to make and hold punch were made of tin, glass, ceramics, silver, etc., of which ceramics were the most expensive because they were imported from China at that time. In the "Bamboo Garden Pottery Saying", it is mentioned: "In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the sea was full of ships, and business flourished. European clay heavy Chinese porcelain, Chinese merchants to their liking, is in Jingdezhen firing whiteware, transported to Yueyuan, another hire of craftsmen to imitate the Western painting method to paint, in the South Bank of the Pearl River south of the south of the furnace baked dyeing, made into colored porcelain, and then sold to western merchants. "In the 18th and 20th centuries, among the ceramics that Europeans ordered in Guangzhou and Jingdezhen, there was a Panty bowl.
The caliber of these bowls varies from 25 to 60 centimeters, and the height is about 1/2 to 1/3 of the caliber. There are small bowls for one person and large bowls for many people. The giant bowl seen in the Guanfu Museum at the beginning is estimated to be a drinking utensil that is only used in a tavern or at a banquet.
Originally the bowl was only open, but later there were gold and silver inlaid bases, with additional elements such as lids and handles to prevent ceramic damage. It was only used in England in the 1770s and flourished in the 18th century. Due to the large size of the Pantage Bowl, it is easy to draw pictures on it, such as patterns, figures, architecture, life scenes, hunting, pastoral landscapes and so on.
3． The evolution of the ceramic Pantage bowl in the UK.
With the expansion of the British colonial system in Southeast Asia and South Asia, Britain and even Europe set off a popular trend in the 17th and 18th centuries. The ceramic Punch wine bowl exported from China has the firm and delicate tire quality of the Jingdezhen kiln, the thickness of the tire is suitable, and the Guangcai painter is also very exquisite, and the overall is rich in oriental charm, which is quite appreciated by the British at that time, so it was imported in large quantities in a long period of time.
This also left Britain in a trade deficit until opium was imported into China. Until the end of the 18th century, the rapid development of British industry, local porcelain factories gradually mastered the firing technology comparable to Chinese porcelain, and the ceramic Pantout bowl manufactured in Britain gradually became popular, which got rid of the situation of a large number of imports from China.
<h1>2. The material and cultural connotations of the Punch Bowl</h1>
1． The ceramic Punch bowl is a symbol of nobility and wealth, distinguishing different classes.
In 18th-century Britain, who would use a ceramic punch bowl? According to historical data, the purchase price of ceramic Pantori in China was about 4 pounds a piece, plus the wear and tear in shipping, tariffs and profits, and the price sold to the Uk was naturally not cheap. At the same time, the salary of an ordinary small clerk in Britain was about 6 pounds per month, which means that people at the bottom of society may need months of income to buy a bowl. Therefore, it can be inferred that the ceramic Punch bowl should be used by high society.
In Britain, the Punch Bowl often appears in well-known paintings. In George Napton's Portrait of the Sixth Baron Boucher Lay, the protagonist baron Boucher in the cabin holds a Pantage bowl and is preparing to scoop the wine with a silver spoon, which has the characteristics of the Broad Color Porcelain of the Kanggan Period from the expression technique of the flower pattern on the surface of the bowl.
This lord was an 18th-century British art lover and connoisseur, and it is known that the ceramic punch bowl should have been very popular among the British aristocracy at that time. In other paintings associated with the Pantage Bowl, the gentleman who drank the feast invariably wore a white curly wig, one of the standard attire for 18th-century English aristocratic men.
In the collection of the British Museum in the United Kingdom, there is a 17 cm high and 40 cm caliber Qing Dynasty Guangcai Jindi Kaiguang Western Hunting Chart Bowl. The inner and outer walls of the bowl depict Western figures dressed in civilian clothes with accompanying hounds galloping between the woods and mountains, and the number of hounds depicted is as high as 19, which can be inferred that the bowl reflects the daily living conditions of the nobles at that time and should be used by the aristocratic class.
Because ordinary hunters would never keep so many hounds, and hunting in England was one of the favorite activities of the royal family. Some of the bowls were decorated with coats of arms or heraldic shields of a particular family, and later bowls with gold and silver inlaid bases, added lids and handles, which were specially tailored to the nobility. Later, the ceramic pantry bowl gradually became an object used by the nobility to show off their social status.
And in the common people of Britain, will the ceramic Punch bowl be used? Further distinctions are needed here. For the underclass of 18th-century Britain, they preferred cheap and strong gin to water-mixed punch. In addition, the ceramic pantion bowl is expensive and fragile, which is really inappropriate for the reckless man who likes to drink after the cup.
For those emerging non-aristocratic bourgeois people, they have accumulated a certain wealth through industry and commerce or overseas trade, and have a strong desire to join the upper class. In order to connect with the noble life, punch has also become an important part of their lives, so the use of ceramic punch bowls is also in demand. Just like the pastel thirteen-line exterior panchu wine bowl described in the opening chapter, depicting the scene of merchant ships loading and unloading goods at the port, it is most likely a wine bowl ordered by the merchants at that time.
2． A large bowl contains the meaning of sharing.
Ceramic Punch bowls vary in size and capacity depending on their caliber, ranging from 0.5 liters to 5 liters, suitable for people of different sizes. William Hogarth was a famous British painter and printmaker of the 18th century, and his paintings truly reflected the life of British society in that era. There is a similarity between the paintings Modern Midnight Party and Midnight Modern Conversation, both depicting ten gentlemen sitting around a round table drinking and talking, with a huge wine bowl in the middle of the round table.
As can be seen from the two paintings, this practice of sharing wine in large bowls was common in English cocktail parties at that time. Judging from the capacity of the Punch bowl that has been passed down to future generations, the wine of about 5 liters can almost meet the needs of about ten people. It can be seen that the wine in the painting should be punch wine, and the large bowl of wine is the custom of that era.
Speaking of sharing, I have to mention the exchange of Chinese and Western art. The British appreciated the color of Chinese art and folk customs from the paintings of the Panty Bowl, which gave them a deeper understanding of the artistic elements of the East. Chinese folk craftsmen, in the process of making Punch wine bowls, through a large number of imitations and imitations, came into contact with the techniques and styles of Western painting, which played a role in promoting the spread of Western painting in China. A delicate pantomime bowl not only allows people to share fine wine, but also becomes a container for the artistic fusion and sharing of China and the Uk.
3． Expensive and meaningful, it is a great place for gifts and collecting.
The British are a people who pay attention to tradition and etiquette, and are very particular about gifts on festivals, anniversaries and religious days. In their view, the ceramic punch bowl is a valuable and likable item. Bowls of commemorative motifs and words are often given as gifts to each other to express good wishes.
From a collection of export floral ceramic Pantage wine bowls, it can be seen that the bottom of the bowl is painted with a bouquet of bottled lilies, which means a hundred years of good family, great love, and has a deep blessing meaning. It is most appropriate for a married couple. Another example is a broad-colored open-light character Pantchu wine bowl collected by the China Customs Museum, which depicts patterns such as peonies, golden chickens, and acacia, as well as pictures of the home life of men and women in the Qing Dynasty, and the picture is full of harmony and joy. There are even many families who use the wine bowl as a decoration for their living rooms and hiding rooms, as a symbol of elegance.
<h1>epilogue</h1>
In the process of developing from punch to cocktail, the ancient ceramic punch bowl and scoop spoon were gradually replaced by modern bartenders such as bar spoons, wine measuring vessels, and shakers, and moved from wine tables to collection rooms or museums. To quote the famous British writer J.K. Jerome: "These (referring to antiques), which are regarded as treasures by everyone today, have any real artistic value in themselves? To put it bluntly, it is not because of the age that it has added a layer of halo to them, and I am amazed...".
Nevertheless, their unique shapes, exquisite patterns and allegorical paintings still attract future generations to stop and watch. These 18th-century wine utensils still leave a mark on the lives of their predecessors, and through them, we can explore the cultural life of that time.
bibliography
"A Brief Analysis of the Pantage Bowl in Guangcai Porcelain"
"Dazzling Huazhang Porcelain, Guangcai Panty Bowl"
Collectible Pictorial