No 29: Lettered bowl, 1978 (P.78.2)

The potter Mary White also practiced and taught calligraphy. This bowl is in thrown porcelain (the David Leach recipe) with a very wide, flattened rim; it is glazed in a mottled turquoise colour with a narrow band of manganese on the rim. Gold lustre Roman lettering encirles the deep centre; large and small letterforms have been skillfully drawn by brush, setting out the (Latin) quotation from Horace: 'Mingle some brief folly with your wisdom. To forget it in due place is sweet.' (16.IV.XII.27)