(5) Pisgah Forest Pottery Cameo and Glazed Pieces. Green mug with white cameo design of a musician and their dog, signed Stephen on side. 2 light blue cameo teapots, tag on underside of both. Light blue green glazed small vase, marked on underside. Light blue green glazed mini pitcher. All excellent representations of the Arts and Crafts style. 

Condition: Handle repaired on one teapot. Crack near bottom of handle on other teapot. 

Largest Size: 8 1/2 x 6 x 3 in. 

Walter Benjamin (W. B.) Stephen (1876-1961) had grown up in Tennessee working alongside his father in masonry, when he discovered an unusual variety of clay while digging a well. His mother, an artist, helped him shape and test fire a few pieces of pottery with it, and in 1904 he opened Tennessee Nonconnah Pottery along with her. When she died in 1910 (the same year as his father), Stephen closed the business, and relocated to Skyland, North Carolina, where he opened North Carolina Nonconnah in 1913. Although located on a major highway and having strong financial backing from a rich patron, that company closed after five years due to the lack of a thriving tourist market the highway had been expected to bring. Finally, in 1926, Stephen opened Pisgah Forest Pottery in nearby Arden, by which time his focus was almost exclusively on the shapes and glazes of the Arts and Crafts movement. Cultivating friendships with successful regional potters like Oscar L. Bachelder and Omar Khayyam Pottery, his unique twist on popular styles brought buyers by the droves. His cameo wares were particularly sought after, often depicting traditional activities and lifestyles of the rural South. In 1939 Stephen joined the Southern Highland Handicraft Guild, which increased his market substantially, and for a brief period in 1940 it was renamed Stephen’s Pottery, but brand recognition forced him to return it to its original name the following year. He continued to work at the facility shaping objects with his own hands right up until his death on New Years Eve in 1961, at which time his daughter-in-law and grandson Thomas Case took over. His original works are on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution and the North Carolina Museum of Art, and the pottery continued to produce many of the same early designs until 2014, when Case passed away and the company closed for good.

Handle repaired on one teapot. Crack near bottom of handle on other teapot.