No 7: 'Stag' dish, 1945-6 (P.80.2)

Haile started making slipware after the Second World War, using the earthenware red clay from Bulmers Brickworks at Sudbury where, briefly, he set up a workshop. This large, thrown dish is an example of his simple and deft decorating style: a stark white slip-trailed stag is framed against a black slip ground; on the reverse are black slip-trailed lines. The slip decoration is enhanced by a clear glaze, giving the whole composition a black-treacle appearance. Prehistoric cave paintings are a probable source of the imagery.