Green enamel pinstriping highlights the molded rope and alphabet pattern around the rim of...

Green enamel pinstriping highlights the molded rope and alphabet pattern around the rim of this plate. Three men are shown indulging in the pleasures of a wayside inn for this illlustration of Franklin's maxim "Dost Thou Love Life . . ." The green transfer scene features one man raising a tankard, another smoking a pipe and a third leaning over a fence (sleeping or passed out??). Skittles lie in disarray nearby.

If the scene is too subtle, the verses go to the point. "Dost Thou Love Life Then Do Not S...

If the scene is too subtle, the verses go to the point.

"Dost Thou Love Life Then Do Not Squander Time."

"There Will Be Sleeping Enough In The Grave."

Noel Riley, Gifts for Good Children, The History of Children's China, 1790-1890 discusses these wares with illlustrations of this scene (p. 276, il. 1109). While this example is several generations removed, the mottos and accompanying scene come from a late 18th century children's picture sheet (similar to today's coloring book or scrap book materials). The original illustration by Robert Dighton was published in picture sheet form by Bowles and Carver, London, 1795.