The Craft Bowl
- Gallery: Room 46
- Maker: Thomas Craft
- Made in: Stratford-le-Bow (historic)
- Date: 1760 (circa)
- Object type: bowl
- Materials: porcelain; gold; brass
- Museum number: I.62
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you is "The Craft Bowl," a delicate porcelain piece with rounded sides, a high foot, and a brass-bound rim that holds two cracks in place. This 18th-century bowl is painted in the Kakiemon-style, blending an English design with a Japanese-inspired color scheme. Around the rim, you'll notice four floral swags with floral pendants in between. Inside the central area is a flowered monogram made up of two 'TC's—this is the mark of its maker, Thomas Craft.
This bowl is notable not only for its artistry but also for its unique historical background. It was made for the 1778 christening of a young woman in London and has a direct connection to the history of slavery in the Caribbean, through the family of Sir Patrick Blake. The piece was crafted in 1760 at the Bow China Manufactory in Stratford-le-Bow, England. A detailed inscription in the original box reveals how Thomas Craft himself described the making of the bowl—praising his own work with pride and a touch of personal reflection.
See it in person
The Craft Bowl is on display in Room 46 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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