Punch bowl

The bowl is complete; the top of the rim has lost some of its glaze, the foot is missing and some breaks have been repaired with copper metal studs. The bowl is circular. In profile, it has a slightly flared wall topped by a straight rim. The lower part of the wall is curved towards the bottom, which is flat. The bowl rests on a solid ring-shaped foot, whose beveled base is free of glaze. The outer surface features seventeen pairs of holes holding the ends of as many metal spikes. Some of these holes are visible on the inner wall. There are slight flaws in the inner glaze ; The decoration almost completely covers the outer face of the bowl, as well as the inner rim and bottom. The decoration is of a floral and animal type, treated in Imari. It is hand-painted in two-tone blue underglaze, then traced and painted in iron red, with gold highlights, over glaze. The braid under the inner rim is traced in blue and outlined with a fillet. It is composed of two alternately repeated elements. One element is a vegetal motif traced and painted in red with gilding and bordered by two leaves traced and painted in blue and gold, which is set between two arcs-de-circle made of two wide curved lines, traced and painted in blue with gilding. The second element is a double latticework with spikes and a small central flower, all traced in blue. The inner base of the bowl is decorated with a leafy, flowering plant. The stem and a few leaves are outlined and painted in blue with gold highlights. The flower is traced and painted in red, with gold highlights, while the leaves are painted and veined in red. On the outer wall, the decoration consists of a main scene seated on a horizontal fillet traced in blue. The central element consists of two similar masses, traced and painted in blue with gilding; they are made of a base of linked vertical sections, a short neck and a rectangular horizontal head with pointed ends. They are flanked by red-painted, traced leaves and red-veined leaves. The main elements are two large flowers, probably a peony and an aster, traced and painted in red with gold highlights; they are flanked by leaves traced and painted in blue with gilding, and traced and painted in red. On either side of the central masses are two long, leafy, curved branches, traced and painted in blue, supporting flowers and leaves traced and painted in red, with touches of gilding. The one on the right also supports a bird with a long beak, seen in profile to the left, traced and painted in red and blue with gilding.