Crown Ducal ‘Who Said Dinner?‘ Nursery Bowl by Charlotte Rhead, Chicks Pattern 3131, 1930s

A tubelined ‘Who said dinner?‘ nursery ware Art Deco bowl by Charlotte Rhead, featuring a happy yellow duck on tufts of grass between blue flowers. The rim of the plate is decorated in a black stitch pattern and the back has a black Crown Ducal Ware trade mark with A G R for A G Richardson. In common with many of her 1930s designs, Charlotte’s nursery ware does not bear her facsimile signature. Instead, there is the number four painted in yellow and a decorator’s mark consisting of three black lines, possibly for Marjorie Windsor.

The bowl is in excellent condition with no chips or cracks. There are three points in the glaze on the underside from the support during firing. The enamels are perfect and unchipped.

Charlotte Rhead, (1885-1947) is highly sought after for her cheerful tubelined designs. In 1912 her 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. From 1932 to around 1941-2 she joined A G Richardson & Co Ltd in Stoke-on-Trent, which used the trade name Crown Ducal.