Art fairs

Aronson Antiquairs of Amsterdam yearly participates in three art and antiques fairs. One national fair in Amsterdam and two international in Maastricht, The Netherlands and New York City. On display at these fairs is an important overview of our collection and it’s highlights. It will be a pleasure to welcome you at one of these venues.

Our address:

Visit: Nieuwe Spiegelstraat 39

Amsterdam-Center

Mail: P.O.Box 15556

NL-1001 NB Amsterdam

The Netherlands

Tel. +31 20 623 3103

Fax +31 20 638 3066

e-mail: mail@aronson.com

Highlights at TEFAF Maastricht 2010

The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF)

Maastricht, The Netherlands

12 - 21 March 2010

At TEFAF Maastricht 2010 Aronson Antiquairs of Amsterdam will present this year’s new collection of seventeenth and eighteenth Dutch Delftware, accompanied by the  publication Dutch Delftware, Facing East: Oriental Sources for Dutch Delftware Chinoiserie Figures illustrating the seventy-two new acquisitions.

Highlights from the seventeenth century include two blue and white biblical dishes (entries 23, 24) from circa 1650 produced in Haarlem and a large octagonal bridal basket (entry 25)(width 41.5 cm., 16 3/8 in.) from Delft decorated with the Adam and Eve and the Tree of Knowledge.

Coloured wares from the early eighteenth century include a pair of ‘Cashmire’ palette flower vases in the form of an obelisk on a heart-shaped base (entry 36) and a small ‘Imari’ palette puzzle jug (entry 45).

Very rare is a small Black Delftware ‘tasting pot’ (entry 46). This small black-ground teapot imitating oriental lacquer would be used to taste various tea blends, either at home by the guests of the tea party or in a shop when choosing the kind to buy. The Black Delftware was extremely difficult to produce and only circa 65 surviving pieces are known today.

The diversity of Dutch Delftware is illustrated by a pair of aviary water dispensers from circa 1710-20 (entry 50). The reservoirs are painted with continuous hunting scenes including a deer chase, duck-shooting and trapping by luring the birds into netted catching pipes (duck decoys, eendenkooi). This latter activity is rarely illustrated in the arts, and the decoration on these dispensers is currently its only known depiction on Dutch Delftware.

Also related to hunting are two late eigteenth century sets of twelve dishes of the herring and whaling fishery, the ‘great’ and ‘small’ fishery respectively, painted after prints of Adolf van der Laan (entries 89-90).

A remarkable piece from the rococo era is a very large tureen shaped as a boy climbing a goat (entry 78). Such large center pieces in Dutch Delftware are seldom found.

Besides various single properties this year two collections could be acquired, that of the late Mr. Jan Visser of Heemstede (d. 1985) and of the late Maurits Aronson (1903-1989), which returned to Holland through Stigter-Gysberti Hodenpyl Collection, Singapore.

Additional to the new collection, a special theme has been hightlighted this year:

Facing East: Oriental Sources for Dutch Delftware Chinoiserie Figures

The Chinese porcelain imported by the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC) from the early seventeenth century was the incentive for the Delft potters to produce tin-glazed earthenware (faience) emulating the oriental porcelains. Besides direct imitations of shapes and patterns, the Delft potters also had great influence on the European fashion for chinoiseries, an amalgam of eastern and western stylistic elements. In recent years there has been a growing interest in uncovering the origins of Chinese patterns and shapes of Dutch Delftware.

The rare and little known Delft figures of Chinese men, women, deities, and animals, selected from the Aronson collection illustrate that besides prototypes of blanc de Chine and polychrome enameled biscuit porcelain from the Kangxi period, as well as Chinese export porcelain from the Qianlong period, figures carved from soapstone and ivory, and even bronzes could also have been models for Delft chinoiserie figures. The Delft chinoiserie figures are not inventions of the Delft potters, but rather were direct imitations of their Chinese counterparts. It is through the additions to the shapes and especially the fantasized decorations that these figures become chinoiseries. An example are milk jugs shaped as monkeys (entries 15-16) which very popular in Delftware, but actually have a very rare Kangxi-period porcelain prototype.

The publication Dutch Delftware, Facing East: Oriental Sources for Dutch Delftware Chinoiserie Figures will be available complementary to the public at booth in Maastricht.

Press images in high resolution can be downloaded from: www.aronson.com/press

A preview of the discussed highlights is also available on YouTube, see above.

As part of the Aronson Group, Aronson Concepts (www.aronsonconcepts.com) will present its first publication at Tefaf 2010 entitled Commedia dell’Arte, The Rodes and Patricia Hart collection. This publication will be available for retail online from http://shop.aronson.com.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for any further information, via phone (+31 20 623 3103) or by email (mail@aronson.com).