A SMALL COLLECTION OF ANTIQUE SILVER
AND OBJECTS OF VERTU
THE WHAT IS? SILVER DICTIONARY



PAP BOAT

pap boat is a small receptacle for feeding pap to infants and invalids. The typical form is boat-shaped, having the feeding end shaped as a short lip or an extended tapering lip to be placed on the mouth of the person being fed, and the holding end somewhat incurved and usually without a handle. Occasionally there is a flat handle or a vertical loop handle. Silver examples are sparsely decorated, usually with only a reeded or narrow embossed rim.


silver papboat

The 'pap boat' was designed to feed the 'pap' to babies and invalids. The term 'pap', allegedly derived from the Scandinavian for the sound made when a baby opens his mouth for nourishment, was probably introduced before its first recordings in literature in the mid 18th century. Recipes for pap usually called for bread, flour and water. A more nourishing mixture, 'panada', was a pap base with added butter and milk, or cooked in broth as a milk substitute. Variations on the ingredients included Lisbon sugar, beer, wine, raw meat juices and Castile soap. Drugs were sometimes added to 'soothe the baby'.
Resembling a sauce boat (or sometimes a small bed-pan), they were made of wood, silver, pewter, bone, porcelain or glass. They ranged from very plain, for poor families or foundling homes, to highly decorated pieces for wealthier clients.
Silver pap boats or infant feeders were in use from the late 17th through the 19th centuries



silver papboat silver papboat


silver papboat silver papboat


Austrian silver papboat Austrian silver papboat


papboat papboat



English home page
This is a page of 'The What is? Silver Dictionary' of A Small Collection of Antique Silver and Objects of vertu, a 1500 pages richly illustrated website offering all you need to know about antique silver, sterling silver, silverplate, Sheffield plate, electroplate silver, silverware, flatware, tea services and tea complements, marks and hallmarks, articles, books, auction catalogs, famous silversmiths (Tiffany, Gorham, Jensen, Elkington), history, oddities ...
HOME - SITE MAP - SILVER DICTIONARY - COOKIES CONSENT AND PRIVACY