Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
Unable to open [object Object]: HTTP 0 attempting to load TileSource: https://ids.lib.harvard.edu/ids/iiif/494921894/info.json
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
This object does not yet have a description.

Gallery Text

This finely decorated bowl is a veritable emblem of the interconnected 18th century: it is linked to Liverpool merchants, enslaved Africans, and Asian potters. Designed as a container for spirited punch made from imported commodities like sugar, citrus, and spice, the bowl was presented to the captain of the Molly, the trading vessel depicted in its interior. Like many ships that sailed from Liverpool, the Molly was engaged in the triangle trade, in which “success” came when the captain exchanged enslaved Africans for Caribbean sugar at a favorable rate.

The decoration on the bowl’s exterior combines two iconographic systems. Images of the Greek gods of commerce (Mercury) and the sea (Neptune) blend into a highly detailed chinoiserie landscape. The roof of the large building in this scene is oddly cropped; perhaps the artist was copying an image in a print and misjudged the dimensions of the bowl.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2016.5
People
Unidentified Artist
Title
Punch Bowl
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
c. 1755
Places
Creation Place: Europe, United Kingdom, England, Liverpool
Culture
British
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/354737

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2240, European and American Art, 17th–19th century, The Arts in the Eighteenth–Century Atlantic World
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Tin-glazed earthenware
Dimensions
12 × 26.7 cm (4 3/4 × 10 1/2 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • label: round, cream, with printed text: Garry Atkins
  • inscription: center of bowl:
    Succeƒs to the Molly. 1755

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Garry Atkins, London], sold; to Walton Temple, North Tyneside, England, June 15, 1990, sold [through Anderson and Garland, Auctioneers, Ltd., Newcastle, June 17, 2014, lot 88]; to [Garry Atkins, London], sold; to Harvard Art Museums, 2016.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Augustus S. Cobb, by exchange and bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop, by exchange
Accession Year
2016
Object Number
2016.5
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Publication History

  • An Exhibition of Pottery and Porcelain, auct. cat. (London, March 13-20, 1990), pp. 28-29, cat. no. 32, repr. p. 29
  • Tony Henderson, Cullercoats man's collection fetches almost £150,000 at auction, The Journal (Newcastle, June 23, 2014)
  • Roland Arkell, Gold from Geordie shores: £150,000 collection emerges from Cullercoats bungalow, Antiques Trade Gazette: The Art Market Weekly ([e-journal], July 25, 2014)

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 2240 18th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/09/2016 - 01/01/2050

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu