Chocolate pot

Meissen, Germany, 1740–1750

Glazed and painted porcelain.

H: 16 cm

Markings: Swords in blue, “V”

UMP 7647

A porcelain chocolate pot with a lid and side handle. Cylindrical form, glazed surface richly painted with Indian Flowers. The first porcelain pots and jugs responded to culinary fashions and the new, exotic, rare ingredients appearing on European tables – like tea, coffee, and cocoa. Cocoa came to Europe in the sixteenth century, not arriving in Germany until the seventeenth century (in Bremen in 1673). First used as a medicinal powder, cocoa was later made into hot chocolate. Hot chocolate was served from silver and copper pots, and this porcelain pot is derived from their form.

l Chocolate pot