TURTLECREEK REDWARE Stag Dish Circa 1990s

Gorgeous handcrafted redware dish by the renowned TURTLECREEK POTTERS of Morrow, Ohio.  Turtlecreek Potters was one of the first 20th century pottery companies to begin re-creating authentic American redware using old techniques.  Many excellent potters have worked with Turtlecreek Potters, including Greg and Mary Shooner.

The 6" by 8" redware rectangular dish is from the 1990s. Redware is an earthenware pottery utilizing a red to pinkish burning clay body and was among the very first commercial products to be manufactured and used by European settlers to North America. Its fragile nature and its lead glaze rendered it obsolete as soon as an economically feasible alternative (salt-glazed stoneware, tin or glass) was available. 

The design features a STAG centered in the middle of the reddish orange glazed dish. The back of the dish is incised with the following:

ABOUT TURTLECREEK POTTERS 

Turtlecreek Potters originated in 1984 and is part of the Workshops of David T. Smith located in Morrow, Ohio.  The "Workshops" are a village-like atmosphere of board and batten shops that are the home to many skilled designers, cabinetmakers, finishers, potters and other artisans employed by David Smith.

In the early years of his business, Smith devoted himself to reproducing American antique furniture reproductions in New England, Shaker, and Pennsylvania German styles. However in the 1980s, in an attempt to fulfill the need for hard-to-find quality accessories for his furniture line, Smith spent many hours in museums and their archives researching early American redware. He developed an original lead glaze and built an outdoor wood fired kiln. The result was a very authentic line of redware plates and thrown forms that antique and pottery collectors embraced. 

The work of Workshops of David T. Smith has been prominently featured in two books by Tim Tanner (Early American Country Homes and Early American Country Interiors) and in national magazines, including Old House Interiors' Early Homes and A Primitive Place & Country Journal, in which David frequently contributes as a writer. Throughout the years, The Workshops has been honored to be featured in numerous national magazines, books, and publications.