Every month, we highlight a remarkable piece from the Aronson Antiquairs collection. This month we present this beautiful pair of blue and white model of shoes, from circa 1760.

Miniature ceramic shoes like this pair were commonly sold at annual fairs and regional markets throughout the Low Countries. While most examples are undated, some bear inscriptions, initials, or dates, indicating that they were intended as personalized tokens for specific recipients or special occasions. Their purpose therefore extended beyond that of decorative curiosities to objects with clear social meaning.

In seventeenth-century Dutch visual culture, shoes carried a rich set of symbolic associations. They appear frequently in genre paintings, where they could convey romantic, playful, or subtly erotic undertones through well-understood visual puns. These meanings parallel broader marital customs of the period, including the tradition in some regions of brides receiving or wearing wooden clogs during wedding ceremonies: gestures connected to prosperity, fertility, and domestic harmony.

Within this context, the present pair of ceramic shoes participates in an established symbolic vocabulary. Their small scale, ornamental nature, and occasional personalized inscriptions suggest they were likely exchanged between lovers or newlyweds as intimate gifts. Serving as emblems of affection, good fortune, and marital bliss, they demonstrate how modest ceramic objects could embody complex layers of social meaning in early modern Dutch society.

D2045. Pair of Blue and White Models of Shoes

Delft, circa 1760

Each painted on the front and sides with floral scrollwork, a blossom on the molded flower on the front, the dotted-edged sole continuing around the arch and the heel washed in blue.

DIMENSIONS
Heights: 4.2 cm. (1.7 in.)
Lengths: 7.8 cm. (3.1 in.)

PRICE
€ 2.850 (US$ 3,000 export*) incl. shipping

(*excl. local taxes, if applicable)