Wooden Framed Pratt Ware Lid Entitled "High Life"

Offered for sale is a lovely Mid 19th Century wooden framed Pratt Ware pot lid. It is decorated with a scene entitled "High Life" and based on the oil painting of the same title by Sir Edwin Henry Landseer. It depicts a dog in plush surroundings and living the "High Life". It was Felix Edward Pratt (1813-94) who spotted the commercial possibilities of using new printing technology to decorate the lids of containers for popular products such as bear's grease, gentleman's relish, potted shrimps and cosmetics, with sophisticated designs. After 1840, F. & R. Pratt of Fenton in Staffordshire, became the leading (but not the only) manufacturer of multicoloured transfer printed pot lids and a huge range of related wares. Long admired for their technical excellence, for their sheer variety and as a social and historical record of their era, pot lids have a venerable collecting history and rank among the most desirable everyday items from the Victorian period.