A good mid-17th century turned lignum vitae wassail bowl, English, circa 1650


The cover turned with multiple rings, and fitted with a later turned lignum vitae spire finial, the nearly straight-sided bowl turned with three groups of cords and with a lower rounded turning, on a ring-turned stem and a moulded spreading foot, 26cm cover diameter x 44cm high overall; 22.5cm bowl diameter x 26.5cm high
|Exhibited:The Merchant's House, Marlborough, Wiltshire, 2006-2018Wassail bowls are one of the only remnants of the tradition of wassailing, originally the practice of offering a drink to anyone who came to one's door in exchange for gifts. The word means, in Anglo-Saxon, 'be in good health'. Traditionally, the wassail is celebrated on Twelfth Night (either the 5th or 6th of January). By the time the following bowls were being made in England, the term had probably expanded to cover general merry-making, feasting or hospitality involving the formal offering of drinks. The large wassail cups or bowls were decorated with ribbons and rosemary and filled with a warmed mixture of ale or cider, roasted apples, nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom and other spices and egg whites. The most elaborate wassailing suite is that formerly owned by Lord Cullen of Ashbourne, and now in the Victoria and Albert Museum [Museum No. W.8 to k-1976], which comprises a lignum vitae engine-turned bowl and cover and four cups together with a side table and a pair of candlestands, which are probably later additions. It has been suggested that the wassail bowl and four cups were presented by Charles I after the Battle of Naseby in 1645, and the table and candlestands were added to embellish an already famous wassailing suite (See E. H. Pinto, Treen and other Wooden Bygones (1969), pp. 48-52, Figs. 35-36). The two lignum vitae wassail bowls sold here would probably originally have been supplied cups and a spice pot, the latter often part of the cover's finial, which might also have served to drain the cups. See also Lot 180 in this sale for a pottery wassail bowl.