Drinking punch in the eighteenth century Rachel Conroy, 28 January 2011 Figure 1: Silver punch ladle with mahogany handle, by Dorothy Mills and Thomas Sarbitt, London, 1752-3. Figure 2: Silver gilt punch bowl designed by Robert Adam and made by Thomas Heming, London, 1771-2. Punch was first drunk in Britain in the 1650s. This was around the same time that tea, coffee and hot chocolate became available. By the turn of the eighteenth century, it was an incredibly popular drink. Making punch Punch was made using a mixture of expensive imported ingredients. The alcohol content was provided by rum or brandy, to which sugar, citrus fruit, spices – usually grated nutmeg – and water were added. The Punch Bowl Using an elegant ladle, punch was served from large communal bowls into individual glasses (Figure 1). One of the most important punch bowls in Amgueddfa Cymru’s collection is that designed by Robert Adam for Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn (Figure 2). It was commissioned to celebrate the success of Sir Watkin's horse, Fop, at the Chester Races and would have been displayed prominently on the sideboard at his fashionable London home. Punch was often drunk at gatherings of clubs and societies, usually held in taverns, coffee houses, or special punch-houses (Figure 3). These were almost exclusively attended by men. Drinking punch seems to have been a highly sociable act that strengthened social ties. A letter published in 1736 describes this eloquently: "…we hope nothing will ever hinder a Man drinking a Bowl of Punch with his Friend, that’s one of the greatest pleasures we enjoy in the Country, after our labour. Figure 3: Earthenware punch bowl by the Cambrian Pottery, Swansea, about 1800-1810. It is inscribed 'B, HAWKINS, SHIP SWAN, LONDON', suggesting it was used at a tavern or punch-house. Figure 4: Delftware punch bowl inscribed 'Edward Jones Scoole Master 1751', probably Liverpool, 1751. Figure 5: Large salt-glazed stoneware goblet, possibly by Mortlake, c. 1794-5. Punch bowls were made to commemorate special events; they were decorated with the names of guilds or societies, or masculine symbols such as ships. An interesting example in Amgueddfa Cymru’s collection is inscribed ‘Edward Jones Scoole Master 1751’ (Figure 4). It has a painting of a school teacher and his pupils reading together. It is easy to imagine such a personal object being commissioned by Edward Jones, or perhaps given to him as a gift. Raucous and uncivilised parties: During the first half of the eighteenth century, there was widespread alarm about the dangers of alcoholism, particularly resulting from the widespread availability of cheap, home-distilled gin. Excessive punch drinking was often associated with bad behaviour. Excessive drinking in general was often linked with moral decline, and punch parties were usually satirised by contemporary artists as raucous and uncivilised. William Hogarth’s A Midnight Modern Conversation, published in 1732/33, is perhaps the best known illustration of a punch party. It was immensely popular and was soon reproduced on punch bowls and other vessels for consuming and serving alcohol (Figure 5). Eighteenth century binge drinking Old Bailey records often support the linking of excessive punch drinking with unsociable, even criminal behaviour. This includes stealing expensive punch bowls from public houses and people’s homes and sharing a bowl of punch with a victim before swindling them. From around the 1750s, punch also began to be served from porcelain and earthenware punch-pots. These are very similar in form and sometimes in decoration to teapots, but are much larger (Figure 6). Unlike open punch bowls, punch pots enabled the drink to be served in a controlled manner by one person – just like tea. This mediated form of serving might have been considered more civilised and refined than communal punch bowls, where people could help themselves and easily drink to excess. Punch drinking was at its most popular during the mid-eighteenth century, but it continued to be enjoyed into the nineteenth century. A fine earthenware punch bowl was made for John Richardson by the Cambrian Pottery in 1845, the same year that he served as Mayor of Swansea (Figure 7). Interestingly, he commissioned the bowl as a birthday gift for his infant grandson and it is decorated with several Richardson coats of arms. Part of the inscription reads ‘GAILY STILL OUR MOMENTS ROLL, WHILST WE QUAFF THE FLOWING BOWL’. Figure 6: Soft-paste porcelain punch pot, Derby, 1760-2 Figure 7: Earthenware punch bowl by the Cambrian Pottery, Swansea, 1845. References: Harvey, Karen. 'Barbarity in a tea-cup? Punch, domesticity and gender in the eighteenth century', Journal of Design History, 21 (3) (2008), pp. 205-21. (unknown) 1736 A collection of all the pamphlets that were written pro and con on the British distillery, whilst the act for laying a duty upon the retailers of spirituous liquors, and for licensing the retailers thereof, was depending in Parliament. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Web. 12 Jan 2010. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/ECCO http://www.oldbaileyonline.org
Your top questions & reports Danielle Cowell, 27 January 2011 Last week Bishop Childs C.I.W Primary asked: "If you plant your bulb at the same time as your partner will they open their flowers at the same time?" This is a very good question and if the bulbs were planted at the same time, were the same size and kept in the same conditions then they could possibly open on the same day. But, all the bulbs are slightly different sizes and some may get more water or sunshine - so they tend to open on different days.Generally, all of the bulbs in one school will open within a week or two of each other. At first, you get a few then the majority will open within a few days of each other, then a smaller number will take a little longer. It's a bit like a race, there will be a few quick ones, a larger group that arrives about the same time then a few slow ones.In this experiment, we take the average flowering time. So we record each date from each flower then divide it by the total number of flowers. Look at the results from your school last year http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/2135/Ysgol Glantwymyn asks: Ydy'r tywydd yma yn dda?/ Is this weather good? The recent warm temperatures we are having are good - as it is getting our bulbs growing. But, if we have a another cold snap it could be very damaging to our bulbs and slow them down again.Good reports from schools: Cwm Glas Primary: We have got some shouts.Maesycwmmer Primary School: A very frosty and cold week. We have noticed a few of our bulbs have started to grow. We have our chart ready and we are going to keep personal records of how much they grow each week. This is a great idea!St. Mary's Catholic Primary School: It has been quite sunny this week and we haven't had a lot of rain.Many thanksProfessor Plant
Dazu: Designing the exhibition John Rowlands, 26 January 2011 During my time as a designer at National Museum Wales I have had to deal with displays of all shapes and sizes and the Dazu Rock Carvings exhibition provided a unique challenge, especially the heads!The exhibition features many heavy stone heads, separated from the bodies by historical vandalism as well as some wear and tear (well, they are over 1000 years old!).The problem posed was how to display them securely and yet in a good position for the viewing public. We also needed a flexible system that is quick: there was only ten days from the delivery to the practical installation!Some weeks ago we had an idea in the design studio and called on the expertise of Annette and Mary from the Conservation department to discuss the merits of our thoughts.“What if we set the stones in an expanding foam mould? Would it grip the sculpture securely and hold a display position?”Mary and Annette both confirmed that if we employed a high-grade conservation material and sheathed the stone with polythene film, the stone would not be affected -in Layman’s terms, it would work!As the icing on the cake we came up with the idea of adding a fabric layer that would act as the finish, ready for display. A mock up was quickly made and, wow! It worked brilliantly!Mary and Annette made great progress and the heads were set into pre-made display boxes in a secure lab deep in the bowls of the Museum.The fabric finish was trimmed and the boxes complete with the sculptures were transferred to the gallery for display with specialised lighting.The heads joined larger items on specialised plinths and some very delicate carvings within cases. Further ingenious display methods were devised for each and every sculpture to ensure this truly amazing exhibition is as inspiring as possible.We are all very excited to see this exhibition come together and are sure the public will love it too.Simon Tozzo, Three Dimensional Designer, National Museum WalesSee more Dazu images on Flickr, keep up to date with Dazu on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @museum_cardiff #dazuwales
Get ready to count... Hywel Couch, 24 January 2011 Do you enjoy watching birds in your garden? Do you have a favourite place to go to watch birds? This coming weekend (29th and 30th January) is the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch, an annual survey of the nations birds.All it takes is an hour of your time to record which birds visit your garden or local park. For a list of local parks in Cardiff, click here.You could even visit us here at St Fagans museum to record which birds you see from our bird hide. Wherever you choose to go, make sure you wrap up warm, it can be very cold work!Registration is free and all the information you need is available from the RSPB's website: www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch What will you see??
St Dwynwen's day cards Sian Lile-Pastore, 20 January 2011 We will be making St Dwynwen's Day cards this saturday (drop in session in Oriel 1 at the usual times of 11 until 1 and 2 until 4). Am still working on the designs for our cards, so far I have tried and been happy with two different pop up cards, one with material, and one with felt. For those who are a bit more adventurous (or possibly the adults!) we will be making felt hearts - you could even add a little pocket to leave a love note!
