🥣 Bowl
Also known as: bowl, milk bowl, milk pan, milk dish
A bowl is a wide open vessel without handles, once used to hold milk and now also for cereal with milk.
A bowl is a wide open vessel without handles. Museum Wales holds several milk bowls whose size may surprise you. A milk pan from around 1800 is 46.7 cm across and only 8.9 cm high.
That pan was made at the Cambrian Pottery (Coles and Haynes) in creamware. It is circular, with a flat base and out-curving sides, a narrow flange with an upturned edge, and a wide pouring spout. The museum files it as a milk pan.
A second piece, donated in 1970, is a white oval dish of porcelain. It measures 530 by 430 mm and is 90 mm high, with a pouring lip at one end and sloping sides on an out-turned rim.
In the EU, ceramics for food have their own specific rules on top of the general Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004.
Compare it with its neighbours. A mug is 12.4 cm tall, a cup 7 cm, and the pan 8.9 cm, but half a metre wide. A plate is flat, while a bowl has sides and a spout. Today a bowl more often holds cereal with milk, but for milk it was made at least from 1800. The rest of the milk tableware has its own pages. For you, the practical point is that width gives milk a lot of surface, and a spout makes pouring easier.
Facts
| Raw material | Creamware earthenware and porcelain 12 |
|---|---|
| Bottle size | Pan 8.9 x 46.7 cm; porcelain dish 530 x 430 x 90 mm 12 |
| Duration | About 1800 (Cambrian Pottery) 1 |
| Legal basis | Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004; ceramics have specific EU measures 3 |
How it connects to milk
Links
- What is poured
- 🥛 Milk
- What is served
- 🥣 Breakfast cereal
- Part of
- 🍼 Milk containers and tableware
Frequently asked questions
Is a milk bowl the same as a milk pan or a milk dish?
In everyday use, yes: a wide open vessel without handles. Museum Wales files its pieces as a milk pan and a milk dish.
How big is the porcelain milk dish?
It measures 530 by 430 mm and is 90 mm high, an oval with a pouring lip at one end.
Who made the milk pan from about 1800?
Coles and Haynes at the Cambrian Pottery. The museum calls it a milk pan.
Why does a milk bowl have a spout?
It makes pouring easier from a wide vessel, while the width gives the milk a lot of surface.
Is it true that a bowl is only for cereal with milk?
No. Bowls for milk were made at least from about 1800; cereal came later.
Similar
Sources
- Museum Wales. Milk pan NMW A 32258
- Museum Wales. Milk dish
- European Commission. Food contact materials