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Polychrome Delftware hare tureen

Small Polychrome Crouching Hare Tureen and Cover

In every newsletter we present a special object from the Aronson Antiquairs’ collection. This month we would like to show this polychrome crouching hare tureen and cover from circa 1765. Zoomorphic tableware evolved from sugar or wax figures and bird-shaped pastries that decorated the Renaissance table. Especially the savory pie must have functioned as an…

Delftware plaque for wall suspension

Blue and White Small Plaque

Every month we present a special object from the Aronson Antiquairs’ collection. This month we would like to show you this blue and white oval plaque, made around 1705. The plaque depicts a lively tavern scene. Peasants are reveling as they watch a couple dancing to the music of a horn or shawm player. A skeptical…

The Disaster Year

“Het volk redeloos, de regering radeloos en het land reddeloos” (The people were irrational; the government desperate and the country irretrievable), no this is not a recent quote, it is a phrase that was coined to describe the state of Holland in 1672. In Dutch history, the year 1672 has from that time to present been known as “Het Rampjaar”…

sheep tureen

Polychrome Sheep Tureen and Cover

In every newsletter we present a special object from the Aronson Antiquairs’ collection. This month we would like to show this polychrome sheep tureen and cover from circa 1770. Zoomorphic tableware evolved from sugar or wax figures and bird-shaped pastries that decorated the Renaissance table. Especially the savory pie must have functioned as an inspiration…

Delftware bird boxes

Delftware Birds

Birds occur frequently and for a variety of reasons in art, as symbols, decoration or objects of study. The symbolism of birds differs in different period and regions. Birds are often encountered in seventeenth-century Dutch genre scenes, in which they usually have a sexual connotation because the Dutch word ‘vogelen’ (birding) means to engage in…

Black Delftware Bowl, circa 1710

Brown and Black Delftware

Porcelain, lacquer and silk were among the most sought after exotic goods from China and Japan in far-away Europe. The attraction to these precious items was particularly strong among the courts during the era when trade flourished by land via the Silk Road or by sea. Early in the seventeenth century, the Dutch East India…

Polychrome tea canister galleon

Polychrome Rectangular Tea Canister

In every newsletter we present a special object from the Aronson Antiquairs’ collection. This month we would like to show this polychrome rectangular tea canister. This tea canister was probably made around 1740 at De Twee Romeinen (The Two Romans) factory on the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam. It is painted with manganese delineated galleons with full…

Prent De Kwaarter uit De Plateelbakker

Invaluable source: Gerrit Paape

In the ceramics world, Gerrit Paape is renowned for his 1794 treatise De Plateelbakker of Delftsch Aardewerkmaaker (‘The Faience Potter or Maker of Delftware’). This publication, his sole work on Delftware, outlined many aspects of the eighteenth-century process of producing Delftware, making it an invaluable source of information about the industry. However, De Plateelbakker was…

Landschap met schip, bootje en kerk

The Importance of Waterways. Shipping Delftware in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

The abundance of waterways in the Netherlands have served as a thriving transportation system for centuries. These waterways were the most important links between the various merchant cities in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Transport and storage companies were established along the quays, from where the ships set course for other cities.1 When Delft brewers…

Blue and white Delftware bowl flower vase flowers

Flowering Heights

Dutch Delftware thrived in the late seventeenth century under the patronage of Queen Mary II, who was passionate about Chinese blue and white porcelain and its local counterpart. The Delft factories also responded to the Queen’s love of gardens, and they developed the technical skills and virtuosity in the production of all sorts of ’vases…

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