Object of the Day: “Please Don’t Hang Me,” A Baby Plate by Royal Winton

This is the most wonderful thing ever. I can’t tell you how excited I am to have this plate. Here we have, as it says on the rim of this oval dish, “Baby’s Plate.” And, nothing says, “Baby’s Plate,” more than a scene of our favorite puppet anarchist, Mr. Punch, murdering his child and, with a worried look on his face, pleading with Jack Ketch, the hangman, “Please don’t hang me.” Because, after all, that’s what you want Baby to see as he finishes his strained peas—a puppet murderer begging not to be executed.

I love it!

This is among many oddly decorated baby plates produced in the late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries by Royal Winton. As we’ve said in my own family, “Royal Winton must have hated children.” Other antique “Baby” plates by Royal Winton that we’ve seen show pictures of realistic trout, scary goblins and other peculiar scenes sure to stimulate your child’s appetite. “Finish your dinner, darling, and see Mr. Punch kill his child. There’s a god boy.”

Questionable children’s dinnerware adornment notwithstanding, Royal Winton is am extremely well respected British brand of fine bone china tableware which is made by Grimwades Limited. Grimwades is a Stoke-on-Trent based company which was founded by Leonard Lumsden Grimwade in 1885.

For so many reasons, I adore this plate. It’s actually quite beautiful with its sturdy construction and attractive oval shape. But, I have to say, the greatest appeal is the adorable image of Mr. Punch. He looks genuinely concerned that he’s to be hanged. Jack Ketch looks so delighted to have caught Mr. Punch (unaware that it is he who will be hanged). It’s a brilliantly illustrated scene of one of the most famous images from the traditional puppet show.

“Please don’t hang me!”