For February’s Pot of the Month, we thought we’d go for something colourful. This impressive 3½”/9cm diameter x 5¾”/15cm high beaker, decorated with a colour transfer print of a “Load of Mischief”. On the reverse, it says: “Tis thus I travel on life’s road. If blessed or cursed judge by my load (from an old pottery engraving)”. We think the idea may have been taken from an 18th century engraving of “A Man Loaded with Mischief, or Matrimony”. The engraving has a sub-text: “A Monkey, A Magpie and Wife, Is the True Emblem of Strife. Published by Robert Sayer; Drawn by Experience, Engraved by Sorrow”. So, what we originally thought was just a colourful novelty is actually a sad reflection on marriage. Oh dear! It still makes for an impressive decoration though. The base of this particular piece has both a Goss backstamp and an impressed mark.
