Gift bowl

• Stoneware with printed décor
• Staffordshire (England)
• 1797
• height: 14.7 cm
• diameter: 33 cm

The bowl is said to have belonged to the Warnemünde captain P.M. Grimm; most likely it was given to him by an English company as a 'gratification' for a particularly favourable transaction. Besides the captain's name, the sides of the precious bowl also show Neptune, Roman god of the sea, Triton, Greek god of the sea, and the Naiads as water nymphs in Greek mythology. English stoneware is very similar to expensive porcelain, but is significantly cheaper. Crockery and small utensils made with this material become fashionable toward the end of the 18th century and soon spread throughout Europe, often as souvenirs brought by sailors.