Hand-Painted Lady Head Vase Planter — Signed Charlotte Cunningham 1979, Folk Art Ceramic with Straw Hat and Blue Bow

The One Who Doesn't Care What You Think

Every head vase collection has its glamour girls — the ones with the perfect curls, the flawless lashes, the demure downcast eyes that say I know exactly how lovely I am. And then there's this one. She closed her eyes too, but it's because she's mid-laugh at her own joke. Her smile is a little crooked. Her hat is enormous. Her base is painted the color of a summer sky. She is, without question, the most herself of any head vase you'll find. Charlotte Cunningham hand-glazed and painted this lady in 1979, signing her name and the date on the bottom in her own handwriting. The mold itself was a commercially produced greenware form — popular with ceramic hobbyists throughout the 1970s, the kind you'd find at ceramic supply shops alongside kilns, brushes, and bottles of glaze. Dozens of people worked with this same mold over the years, but the magic was always in the painting — and Cunningham's work here is a cut above. Her glazing is confident and expressive, with a warmth that lesser hands on the same form couldn't quite capture. The expression is what sells it: eyes sweetly closed beneath thick painted lashes, a knowing half-smile that suggests she's keeping a secret she finds genuinely amusing, and cheeks round enough to make you want to pinch them. The hat is the showpiece — a wide, oversized straw-textured creation with sculpted ridges mimicking woven straw, a ruffled brim, a bold blue bow, and a small cream-colored flower with a green leaf tucked into the band. It sits at a jaunty angle over lavender-mauve hair that peeks out from underneath. The whole thing doubles as the planter opening — tuck a few small blooms or a trailing succulent inside and she becomes a living centerpiece. Below that unforgettable face, a bright blue sponge-painted pedestal base anchors her with the kind of cheerful folk art energy that the carefully polished Japanese imports never quite had. She's solid and substantial in the hand — this is a piece with personality, the kind you can't manufacture on a production line.

The Ceramic Hobby Movement

In the 1960s and 1970s, ceramic hobby shops were everywhere in America. Companies like Duncan, Arnels, and Atlantic Mold produced thousands of greenware forms — unfired clay pieces cast from molds — that hobbyists would purchase, glaze, paint, and fire in their local shop's kiln. Lady head vases were a beloved form in this world, inspired by the Japanese imports that had filled florist shops and five-and-dimes a decade earlier. The same mold could produce wildly different results depending on the skill and vision of the painter. Some came out flat and lifeless. Others — like this one — came out with genuine character. Charlotte Cunningham's 1979 version of this mold is among the better examples we've seen, with confident brushwork and a color sense that gives this lady her own distinct personality. Be sure to look for other vintage head vases in the shop — we're always adding to the collection.

Details

• Painter: Charlotte Cunningham (signed and dated on base)
• Origin: American hand-painted ceramic from commercial greenware mold
• Date: 1979
• Material: Glazed ceramic with hand-painted details, solid and substantial
• Form: Lady head vase / planter on pedestal base, open at top
• Design: Round-faced woman with closed eyes, crooked smile, oversized straw-textured hat with blue bow and cream flower
• Hair: Lavender-mauve, visible beneath hat brim
• Base: Blue sponge-painted pedestal
• Colors: Blue, cream, tan, lavender, flesh tones, green leaf accents
• Dimensions: Approximately 4.75" tall × 4" wide
• Mark: Handwritten label on base reading "Charlotte Cunningham 1979"

Condition

Good vintage condition with honest signs of her 47 years. Crazing is visible across the face and glazed surfaces — a fine network of lines in the glaze that is common in ceramics of this age and type. The blue sponge-painted pedestal base shows wear and minor areas of paint loss, particularly around the lower edges where she's been picked up and set down over the decades. No chips, cracks, or structural damage. The handwritten artist label on the base remains legible and intact. She's not pristine — she's lived in, and that's part of her story.