Restoration of an 18th Century Sterling Silver Ladle

Punch was extremely popular in England in The 18th century.

The word punch comes to us from the Hindi word panch (meaning five) and the drink was originally made with five ingredients: alcohol, sugar, lemon, water, and tea or spices. The drink was brought to England from India by sailors and employees of the British East India Company in the early seventeenth century. From there it was introduced into other European countries.

Punch was in consumed in large quantity from  individual cups  served  communally from a large bowl and dished out with a long handled ladle as seen in the illustration by the English artist Hogarth.

The ladles for punch as well as the bowl evolved as the status and importance of punch grew over time. Silver was an important indicator of status and Punch ladles were in a class by themselves.

By the The 17th century the  punch ladle had become substantial piece of silver, frequently formed from hammered silver coins for the heavy round silver bowls and they featured  full silver handles. Due to the scarcity of silver at the beginning of the 18th century new styles had to be developed. The introduction of a non-silver handle and lighter bowls were natural consequences. Handles were made of carved or turned wood, horn, or whalebone making 18th-century punch ladles more fragile than other types of flatware, which makes finding one today in good condition a rare event. Whalebone was heated under pressure with steam until malleable, and then twisted into ornate spirals, which hardened and retained their design after cooling.

The double lipped often fluted bowl was introduced around 1740. In our opinion this form is the apogee of a long evolution of design and is the most beautiful and elegant expression of the form.