Punch Bowl
Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin (Designed by Alexander Kips (born Prussia [now Germany], 1858–1910); Modeled by Ernst Wägner (born Austria-Hungary,…)
Designed 1891, made 1892
- Medium
- Hard-paste porcelain
- Classification
- Ceramics
- Dimensions
- 87.7 × 78.8 × 80 cm (34 1/2 × 31 × 31 1/2 in.)
- Culture
- Berlin
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Applied Arts of Europe
- Credit line
- Gift of Jack Shear
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
The monumental size and dynamic modeling of this punch bowl showcase the sculptural capabilities of porcelain. Three figures in classical draperies encircle the bowl; they reach toward one another bearing roses and grapevines while three putti gather around a pineapple knop on the lid. Created by the Royal Porcelain Manufactory in Berlin for the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago, the bowl’s symbols of hospitality and celebration also reflect ideas of German national identity that emerged after the country’s unification in 1871. The masses of grapevines and leaves allude to the Rhineland, the center of German wine production.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
