Charlotte Rhead Art Deco charger

Price : $1,195.00

Brightly coloured Charlotte Rhead Art Deco charger, with geometric fruit and floral design.  31cm diameter.

Charlotte Rhead was born into an artistic family.  Her father Frederick Alfred Rhead began his career at Minton’s as a pate-sur-pate artist under Marc Louis Solon. He went on to work at a number of potteries.  Her elder brother, Frederick Hurten Rhead, became a well-known pottery designer.  At the beginning of the twentieth century the Rhead family were 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 Hanley where her brother Frederick was art director before immigrating to the USA in 1902.  Charlotte did not stay at the firm long but gained the opportunity to develop her skills as a tube liner.  This would prove useful in her future career as a designer.  In 1905 Charlotte found employment as an enameller at Keeling & Co of Burslem.  Later she was employed as a designer at a tile factory, 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 tube liners,  later working as a designer.  Charlotte is perhaps best known for her association with Burgess and Leigh of Middleport (now known as the Burleigh Pottery), where she worked as a designer from 1926 until 1931.  In the 1930s she moved to the firm of AG Richardson in Tunstall. Their brand name was Crown Ducal.