Washington Winter Show 2019

56 and the Lascelles family of Harewood House. Citrus, preferably oranges and lemons, but limes in a pinch or to taste, could be expensively coaxed to grow in colder climates — think the orangeries of royal and noble estates in the 17th and 18th centuries. However, in quantity it had to come either from the Mediterranean or the more recently established groves of the West Indies; either way the spoilable fruit had to survive the sea voyage and arrive edible (or at least squeezable). There are accounts, when citrus was not available or prohibitively expensive, of punches being finished with vinegar — which speaks to the “sour,” rather than the sweetness that drinkers were used to from their fruit. 4 Last came the spirits. The arrack of the original recipe was only imported in small amounts, though the name “rack punch” was used throughout the 18th century, particularly for the version served at London’s Vauxhall Gardens. In the earliest days, the English used French brandy. However, when William III and Louis XIV went to war, supply was cut off except by smuggling or paying a huge duty. Most English mixers of punch followed what was already the American recipe and finished their bowl with rum. Rum, originally also known as “kill-devil,” is distilled from sugarcane juice or diluted molasses. Being produced on Barbados by the 1650s, it was popular with the sugar barons as a way of using a by-product of sugar refining. Sweet, cheap, intoxicating, and local, it quickly gained popularity in America. John Oldmixon, the English historian of the British in the Americas, wrote in 1708 of “the famous spirit known as Rum… ‘tis said to be very wholesome, and therefore it has lately supplied the Place of Brandy in Punch. Indeed, it is much better than the Malt spirits and sad Liquors sold by our distillers.” 5 The ingredients had particular prominence given the way punch was made and served in the early 18th century. Rather than being brought out from the kitchen, it was ritually assembled at the table with the whole citrus, ungrated spices, cones of sugar, and bottles of spirits paraded before the company. Anticipation was part of the event, like watching a good bartender wielding a shaker today, and a fine punch bowl and silver accessories such as lemon strainers, nutmeg graters, and ladles added to the theater. Hogarth’s “A Midnight Modern Conversation” of 1732 shows the effect not just on the company, but on the room; a detritus of empty bottles and citrus rinds clutters up the corners. Probably the largest silver punch bowl surviving from the early colonies, this example — 17 inches over the handles — “supersizes” a Dutch form and decoration for the English drink, at a time when New York City had just over 5,000 inhabitants. It brought the record for American silver at auction. American silver punch bowl, Cornelius Kierstede, New York, 1700–1710. Sotheby’s image. A very rare survival. Henry Wetherburn’s tavern in Williamsburg listed a “Glass Bowl and ladle” in 1760. Punch bowl and ladle, 1690–1710, England, Lead glass, Gift of Dr. M. Donald Hayes, Winterthur Museum, 1996.21,1.,2