Advantages of wearing muslin dresses! [graphic]Gillray, James, 1756-1815, printmaker, artist[15 February 1802]eng"An enormously fat lady flings up arms, legs, and tea-cup in terror, as her flimsy gown catches fire from a red-hot poker falling from the grate (left). She, a stiff military officer, and a young woman sit at a round tea-table. The man sits paralysed, alarmed and helpless, spilling his tea; the girl has added to the calamity by knocking over the tea-table so that urn and tea-pot spill their scalding contents, and crockery slides towards the floor. A loutish footman enters (right) but has stopped dead, dropping a dish of muffins. A frightened cat scampers from the hearth-rug. Over the chimney-piece is a picture of Vesuvius in eruption. The woman is a monstrous creature with bare arms and elaborately dressed hair (or wig), a patterned carpet completes the design."--British Museum online catalogueTitle etched below image.Text following title: Dedicated to the serious attention of the fashionable ladies of Great Britain.1 print : etching on wove paper, hand-colored ; plate mark 25.3 x 35.5 cm, on sheet 28.7 x 39.5 cm.Watermark: J. Whatman.Mounted on leaf 68 of volume 10 of 12.