Elm. Exterior dimensions are 16" wide by 12-5/8" tall. Finished with organic flaxseed oil. 15 quart capacity.
This is a 3-part construction, with the bowl, stem and base connected with tenons and 2-ton epoxy.
What's a wassail bowl, you ask? Wassail is a drink, a hot winter punch commonly made with beer, brandy, sherry, spiced sugary syrup and frothy beaten eggs. I know it sounds weird, but it's delicious. Wassailing is an English tradition in which you go from house to house and sing outside in hopes of getting the hosts to invite you in for a drink. Depending on your local tradition either the hosts have their own bowl of delicious wassail to share or the wassailers carry their own bowl with them and each house would pour a bit of something into the mix. I definitely prefer the former. The wassailing tradition is alive and well in our neck of the woods. It's basically a mix of caroling and trick-or-treat, for grown-ups.
Contemporary wassail bowls tend to be whatever enormous wooden bowl is available (those huge maple bowls from Williams-Sonoma actually work pretty well), but this bowl is based on the more traditional English bowls from the 1700s and 1800s, which almost always had a stem and base. They often had lids as well, which is handy if you're tromping through the snow and don't want wassail down the front of your coat. In this case the bowl will likely stay put on the table, so no lid was necessary.
