Charlotte Rhead | Bursley Ware ‘Blue Peony’ Jug | TL43 | H.J. Wood

Charlotte Rhead | Bursley Ware ‘Blue Peony’ Jug | TL43 | H.J. Wood

Raised lines give the flowers their shape; colour gives them their movement.

Charlotte Rhead (1885–1947) became particularly associated with tube-lined Staffordshire pottery, in which raised lines of slip define a design before colour is applied. In 1942 she returned to H.J. Wood in Burslem, where she designed for the Bursley Ware range until her death; her designs remained in production afterwards. Collectors know this decoration, pattern TL43, as ‘Blue Peony’, also described as ‘Wind-Tossed Peony’. It should be distinguished from Rhead’s earlier Crown Ducal Blue Peony pattern, numbered 4016, although the two share a closely related floral vocabulary.

The jug has a flared, funnel-shaped body that narrows to a band above a spreading foot, with a pinched pouring lip and a looped blue handle. The rim is edged with dashes of blue and violet. Around the body, large tube-lined peony flowers in blue, violet and mauve, with black centres, turn among feathered sprays on a pale grey ground. Below them runs a key-pattern band in blue and violet, above the mottled blue foot. The interior is glazed in cream. The base carries the printed “Bursley Ware, Charlotte Rhead, England” mark, the painted pattern number TL43 and a further painted mark.

Very good condition, with no chips, cracks or restoration. There is fine crazing to the glaze, with some staining in the crazing.

Key Details

• Designer: Charlotte Rhead
• Maker: H.J. Wood, Burslem (Bursley Ware)
• Pattern: TL43, known as ‘Blue Peony’ or ‘Wind-Tossed Peony’
• Technique: tube-lined, with hand-applied enamel colours
• Material: earthenware
• Period: c. 1940s–1950s
• Marks: printed “Bursley Ware, Charlotte Rhead, England”; painted TL43 and a further painted mark
• Dimensions: length 12.5 cm; width 9.5 cm; height 9.5 cm
• Weight: 217 g
• Condition: very good; fine crazing with some staining
• Buyer profile: Charlotte Rhead collectors, and lovers of hand-decorated English pottery

Collector Appeal

Pattern TL43 represents Charlotte Rhead’s later work for H.J. Wood, with the blue and violet floral decoration associated with her Bursley Ware designs. Found on a variety of forms, the pattern sits particularly well on this small, flared jug, where the flowers follow the shape of the vessel. Its hand-applied tube-lining gives each example individual character.

No two hands follow quite the same line, and that difference is part of the work.