This is a painted version of a famous Hogarth image of 1733, known through a painted version (Beaverbrook Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick) and a widely-disseminated print (the most likely source for this derivation). A group of men are hopelessly drunk: they sit around a table on which are a large punch bowl, glasses and candlesticks; in the centre, a man smoking a pipe removes a ladle from the punch bowl whilst a young man directly behind him raises his glass in a toast.