Bishop-bowl

A bishop-bowl (Danish: *bispebolle*) is a punch bowl shaped like a bishop’s mitre. During the 1700s and 1800s, it was a common item in Denmark, Schleswig-Holstein, and Norway, used to serve a warm alcoholic punch called *biskop*. Most bowls were made of faience, and the first large-scale production came from the Store Kongensgade Faience Manufactury in Copenhagen. Later, they were also produced in Schleswig-Holstein and Norway, sometimes in porcelain as well as faience.

The drink *biskop* has German roots, where it was known as *bischof*, named for the violet color of a bishop’s robes. This hot punch became fashionable among Danish nobility in the 1700s, leading to the creation of special bowls shaped like a bishop’s hat or, later, a full bishop figure. The earliest Danish bishop-bowls came from the Store Kongensgade factory, founded in 1722, which made them its most recognizable product. They were usually decorated in blue, though a few were made in manganese violet. Popular in Denmark from the early 1700s, the bowls soon spread to Norway, where the Herrebøe Fajansefabrikk began producing them in the mid-1700s.

The basic ingredients of *biskop* are red wine, sugar, and spices, with recipes varying widely. Most call for bitter orange, orange zest, or orange juice, while some include cinnamon or ginger. By the late 1800s, recipes often added rum to improve taste and shelf life. A 1795 Danish translation of Beate Augustine Friedel’s cookbook gives a recipe using three liters of red wine, 1.5 kilos of sugar, and the zest and juice of six bitter oranges plus two to three regular oranges. Christopher Jacobsen’s 1815 recipe calls for a bottle of red wine, two bitter oranges, and sugar to taste. Anne Marie Mangor’s 1876 book includes rum: a bottle of wine, 50 milliliters of rum, 125 grams of sugar, and the zest and juice of two small bitter oranges. *Biskop* was often served warm, but unlike Danish *gløgg*, it could also be served cold or on ice. The 1935 *Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book* lists a “bishop” recipe served in a pitcher with sugar, lemon juice, rum, a bottle of red wine, and ice.

Early bishop-bowls from the Store Kongensgade factory are displayed at The David Collection in Copenhagen and the Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerød. Bowls from a Schleswig manufacturer can be seen at St. Anne’s Museum in Lübeck.