Art Institute of Chicago

Punch Pot

England, Staffordshire

Date

1755–65

Medium

Salt-glazed stoneware, polychrome enamels

Culture

Staffordshire

Department

Applied Arts of Europe

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Considerably larger than a teapot, this vessel was probably used for punch, a hot drink made with red wine and spices that was a popular beverage in 18th-century England. The naturalism of the handle and spout, modeled in the form of crabapple branches, contrasts with the imaginative freedom of the colorful painted figures. The unknown artist took these vignettes from a series of prints engraved after the work of the French artist François Boucher (1703–1770).

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