Charlotte Rhead Crown Ducal Art Deco Floral Design Signed Art Pottery Vase

Description

"Exquisite" *Charlotte Rhead Crown Ducal Art Deco Era Art Pottery Vase. Signed & Numbered with Floral Design. Numbered #152. EXCELLENT CONDITION! MEASURES: 6" x 4 1/2".
Charlotte Rhead
(19 October 1885 in
Burslem
– 6 November 1947) was an
English
ceramics
designer active in the 1920s and the 1930s in
the Potteries
area of
Staffordshire
.
Charlotte Rhead was born into an artistic family. Her father
Frederick Alfred Rhead
began his career as an apprentice at
Mintons
where he learnt the art of
pâte-sur-pâte
ceramic decoration from
Marc-Louis Solon
.  Frederick A. Rhead went on to work at a number of potteries including a  failed venture of his own. Charlotte's mother Adolphine (née Hurten)  also came from an artistic family. Charlotte's elder brother,
Frederick Hurten Rhead
, became a well-known pottery designer in the USA.
Career
At the beginning of the twentieth century the Rhead family was living in
Fenton
where Charlotte and her sister Dollie studied at Fenton School of Art.  Charlotte started work at Wardle and Co, a pottery in the nearby town of
Hanley
,  where her brother Frederick was art director before emigrating to the  USA in 1902. Charlotte did not stay at the firm long but it gave her the  opportunity to develop her skills as a
tubeliner
,  which would be useful to her in her future career as a designer. In  1905 Charlotte found employment as an enameller at Keeling & Co of
Burslem
.She was next employed as a designer at a tile-maker, T & R Boote. In 1912 Charlotte's father was appointed
art director
of Wood and Sons, a firm which operated several potteries. Charlotte  joined him there, taking charge of the tubeliners, and later working as a  designer. Charlotte is perhaps best known for her association with  Burgess and Leigh of
Middleport
, where she worked as a designer from 1926 until 1931. (Their factory is still operating, as at 2014, as the
Burleigh Pottery
). In the 1930s she moved to the firm of AG Richardson in
Tunstall
. Their brand name was Crown Ducal.