Punch Strainer

Description

By the mid-18th century, fashionable society in American began to rival the gentry in Europe and England. Popular entertainment included afternoon punch, and proper equipage such as punch bowls, ladles, and strainers, which were fashioned out of silver, became a necessity for the affluent patron who wished to impress guests. Traditionally, punch was made from five ingredients: water, sugar, lemon or other fruit juices, spices, and sprits (usually rum).

Provenance

Captain Thomas Poynton (1711-1781) and his second wife, Hannah Bray (1718-1811; m. 1743), Salem, MA; by descent to her grand-nephew Thomas Poynton Ives (1769-1835); by descent to his great-grand-daughter Edith Hope (Goddard) Iselin (1868-1970), Providence, before 1943. William M. Jacobs, Newton Center, MA, by 1943; sold to Florence Lowden Miller (1898-1988; also Mrs. C Phillip Miller), Chicago, 1943; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1943.

Punch Strainer

William Simpkins

1743–60

Accession Number

89981

Medium

Silver

Dimensions

2.9 × 27.4 × 11.4 cm (1 1/8 × 10 3/4 × 4 1/2 in.)

Classification

utensil for serving food

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Gift of the Antiquarian Society through Mrs. C. Phillip Miller