Washington Winter Show 2019

61 This Chinese porcelain punch bowl was a recent luxury import when it was used to make punch for a group of conspirators in November 1773, waiting for darkness to fall to begin the Boston Tea Party. The Edes family “Tea Party” punch bowl, China, circa 1760–73. Courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. John D. Ward is a senior vice-president and head of the Silver department at Sotheby’s in New York. 1. David Wondrich, Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl . New York: Perigree, 2010, xxi. 2. Wondrich, Punch, 2. 3. Wondrich, Punch, 43. 4. Wondrich, Punch, 79. 5. Ian Williams, Rum: A Social and Sociable History of the Real Spirit of 1776 . New York: Nation Books, 2003, 52. 6. Wondrich, Punch, 85. 7. Aileen Dawson, The British Museum: English & Irish Delftware, 1570– 1840. London: British Museum Press, 2010, 198. 8. Eleanor Breen, “One More Bowl and Then?’: A Material Culture Analysis of Punch Bowls.” Journal of Middle Atlantic Archaeology , 28 (2012), 83. 9. The partly reconstructed bowl is now on loan to the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, see http://mesda.org/exhibit/punchbowl/ 10. Cited by Wondrich, Punch, 50. 11. Wondrich, Punch, 43. 12. Breen, “One More,” 85. 13. Williams, Rum, 75. 14. Wondrich, Punch, 108. 15. Wondrich, Punch, 107. 16. Wondrich, Punch, 108. 17. Williams, Rum, 1. See also in the webpage for Winterthur’s exhibition Uncorked (note 19 below), which gives the full reference. http://uncorked. winterthur.org/consumption-equipage/punch/ 18. Peter B. Brown and Marla H. Schwartz, Come Drink the Bowl Dry: Alcoholic Liquors and Their Place in 18th Century Society . York: Fairfax House, 1996, 47. 19. Noted on the website for Uncorked! Wine, Objects, and Tradition . Winterthur Museum, 2012–13. http://uncorked.winterthur.org/consumption- equipage/punch/ 20. Breen, “One More,” 86. 21. Breen, “One More,” 87. 22. Williams, Rum, 83. 23. Graham Hood, The Governor’s Palace in Williamsburg: A Cultural Study . Williamsburg: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1991, 287 and 291. 24. Uncorked website. http://uncorked.winterthur.org/consumption-equipage/ punch/ 25. Uncorked website. http://uncorked.winterthur.org/consumption-equipage/ punch/ 26. Jonathan L. Fairbanks, “Paul Revere and 1768: His Portrait and the Liberty Bowl.” Colonial Society of Massachusetts , 70 (2001), 144. 27. Wondrich, Punch, 194. 28. Steve Hendrix, “The bender that began America. Bar tab shows framers celebrated a newly finished U.S. Constitution and a future President.” Chicago Tribune , February 22, 2018. 29. Damon Lee Fowler, ed., Dining at Monticello . Charlottesville: Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 2005, 184. 30. Louise Conway Belden, The Festive Tradition: Table Decoration and Desserts in America, 1650–1900. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. for Winterthur, 1983, xx. 31. Williams, Rum, 79. middle classes about fifty or sixty years ago, has almost disappeared from our domestic tables, being superseded by wine.” However, she included recipes for punch (now assembled in the kitchen) in her menus for weddings, banquets, balls, and similar events — the settings where punch is most often encountered today. Perhaps it is time to bring back the bowl?  ■