Paul Schreckengost (American, 1908-1983). Tom & Jerry Punch Bowl Set, 1938, Gem Clay Forming Company, Sebring, Ohio. Gla... (Total: 9 Items)

Description

Paul Schreckengost (American, 1908-1983)
Tom & Jerry Punch Bowl Set, 1938, Gem Clay Forming Company, Sebring, Ohio
Glazed and chromed slip-cast ceramic
4-1/2 inches high x 12 inches diameter (11.4 x 30.5 cm) (bowl)

LITERATURE:
H. Adams, Viktor Schreckengost: American Da Vinci, Tide-Mark Press LTD., Windsor, Connecticut, 2006, p. 148-9, p. 149 illustrated.

Paul Schreckengost, another of Viktor's younger brothers, was also a talented ceramic artist, although because he worked chiefly as a mold-maker for the Gem Clay Forming Company, and his works are largely unsigned, he is much less well-known than his brothers. During his lifetime, however, Paul was regarded as one of the most skilled mold-makers in the United States.

Today, Paul's quite elusive designs are highly prized among collectors and museums as among the most daring, streamlined examples of 1930s American art deco ware, and command considerable attention at auction when they surface. The present lot is Paul's complete Tom & Jerry Punch Bowl Set comprised of a punch bowl, ladle and six punch cups. Fewer than 20 sets of Paul Schreckengost's set were produced as Christmas gifts for the executives of the Gem Clay Forming Company. Each set was housed in a hand-painted red Bettis Company box, which is preserved with this rare set that Viktor himself owned.

The Tom & Jerry Punch after which this set is named is an American cocktail created in the 1800s and is similar to egg nog. The following is an 1862 recipe for it (Jerry Thomas, How to Mix Drinks: or, The Bon-Vivants Companion, p. 174):

Serves 25.

5 lbs. sugar.
12 eggs.
1/2 small glass of Jamaican rum.
1-1/2 teaspoonful of ground cinnamon.
1/2 teaspoon cloves.
1/2 teaspoon allspice.

Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, and the yolks until they are as thin as water, then mix together and add the spice and rums, thicken with sugar until the mixture attains the consistence of a light batter.
To deal Tom and Jerry to customers: Take a small bar glass, and to one table-spoonful of the above mixture, add one wine-glass of brandy, and fill the glass with boiling water, grate a little nutmeg on top.


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