TOPOGRAPHICAL PUNCH BOWL WITH COVER AND STAND

Qianlong, c 1745
Swedish Market

Purchased by a Museum.

Among the earliest to send special orders for pieces of European interest the Swedes had a particular fondness for commemorative and topographical subjects and this bowl, cover and stand appears to display both. It is one of a group of such bowls, covers and stands which appear to have been made in very small numbers for a number of Swedish land owners. Among those identified are a bowl stand depicting the castle of Läckö on Lake Vänern and a bowl and cover showing the castles at Tavastehus and Nynäs on opposite sides, both in the Metropolitan Museum, New York and a further bowl stand depicting the old church at Uppsala, late of the Hervouët Collection. The only known complete bowl, cover and stand previous to this example also depicts the castle at Nynäs and is in the Powel house in Philadelphia.

The owner of this bowl wished not only to record his country house but also an important event in its history, almost certainly a Royal Visit.

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