Slipware Plate

This plate has a slipware glaze in brown and yellow with a triangle and leaf motif on the rim and "H/WH/1742" incorporated into the central flower and bird decoration. It may have been made to celebrate a marriage.   Before the 16th Century, it was common for only two meals to be eaten throughout the day - one between early morming to noon and on between late afternoon and night. Meal patterns began to shift and the first meal was eaten later in the afternoon. Breakfast is not thought to have become common until the 19th Century. Grains, fats and meats were all standard in the diets of most people during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, with cereals and potatoes also becoming popular as their production increased.