Norwich Castle Museum (Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service) 626.70.946

Description:

Creamware teapot printed in black with Keep within Compass prints of The Virtuous Woman and The Virtuous Man, engraved by Richard Abbey and printed by Joseph Johnson. The woman is on the principal side of the teapot, that is, the side which a right-handed person would see as they poured the tea.

Below the female figure is "The virtuous woman is a crown to her husband." Around her is "Attend unto this simple fact as thro[ugh] this life you rove, that virtuous and prudent ways will gain esteem and love." The compass is inscribed "Fear God/ Know thyself." The four scenes beyond the compass indicate the fate of the woman who does not keep within compass: immorality (admiring herself in the mirror as a gentleman visitor enters) and extravagance (burning candles although it is daylight and the curtain is open) lead to arrest in the street by two constables, and hard labor in the workhouse.