10. Punch Bowl
This Chinese Export porcelain punch bowl was long used at Clean Drinking Manor, a house built near Rock Creek in 1750. Such bowls were status symbols in wealthy homes in 18th-century America. This example, decorated with flowers and an exotic bird, may have been a wedding gift for Charles Jones and his wife Elizabeth Court in 1747. Soon thereafter the couple built their manor house on what is now Jones Mill Road in North Chevy Chase; the property remained in the family until 1911. According to a period newspaper article, the last family occupant refused to improve the house, with such “neglect causing the house to literally tumble down.” This bowl was donated in 1982 by Mrs. Robert C. Jones, Jr., a member of the family.