Description:

This octagonal earthenware plate is printed in dark brown and further enhanced by underglaze painting in shades of fuchsia or red, golden yellow, green and blue. The border design features a double row of geometric designs along the rim with gilt trim and, in the center, wildflowers, blooming orchids and a butterfly surrounding two cartouches; one that depicts The Temple Bar and the second The Vale of Avoca.

Temple Bar (Irish: Barra an Teampaill) is an area on the south bank of the River Liffey in central Dublin, Ireland.  At the Meeting of the Waters, the Avonmore and Avonberg rivers come together to form the river Avoca. The poet Thomas Moore in 1808 immortalized this meeting point of the rivers. Here on a rustic seat, formed from the root of a tree, Moore is said to have written the words of the Irish melody, Sweet Vale of Avoca.

"There is not in this wide world a valley so sweet

As that vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet;

Oh! The last rays of feeling and life must depart

Ere the bloom of that valley shall fade from my heart."

The lyrics are printed on a scroll to the left of the cartouche. 

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