Every month we present a special object from the Aronson Antiquairs’ collection. This month we would like to show you this pair of blue and white models of slippers! The model for slippers are seventeenth century mules, or trippen, a word used to describe a mule with an upturned toe. Trippen (or patijnen) were wooden…
A robust international trade network brought all types of exotic treasures to the Netherlands in the seventeenth century. The two major trading groups were the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Dutch West India Company (WIC). These powerful entities discovered many treasures, commodities and delicacies from faraway lands that were uncommon at the time…
Delftware objects were commonly given as gifts to commemorate special occasions as early as the seventeenth century. During the reign of King William II and Queen Mary, Delftware objects were gifted to the nobility across Europe. The tradition continued even after the death of Mary in 1695, when King William gave many of the late…
The dinner table, as with all aspects of the decorative arts, is subject to changing fashions. As the structure of meals has evolved over time, the table settings and decoration have followed suit to complement the variations in each tradition. Beginning in the fifteenth century, a formal meal became increasingly divided into numerous courses. Typically,…
Every month we present a special object from the Aronson Antiquairs’ collection. This month a rare and interestingly modelled ewer by Lambertus Cleffius! Unlike his contemporaries, whose production is characterized by horror vacui, Lambertus Cleffius preferred spare decoration, as can be seen on this ewer. Although the shape was already known in the Netherlands in…
Despite the Portuguese importations of Asian goods starting in the early sixteenth century, Chinese porcelain was rarely seen in Europe before 1600. The small quantities of porcelain that were imported to Europe were rare and expensive, and almost exclusively collected by the nobility. In 1600, the market for Chinese porcelain changed significantly when the Dutch…
Every month we present a special object from the Aronson Antiquairs’ collection. This month a beautiful pair of vases in a very rare palette! The delicate grand feu decoration on this pair of vases was in the middle of the 19th century given the descriptive title ‘cashmere’ for its likeness in color, and exotic, dense…
Every month we present a special object from the Aronson Antiquairs’ collection. This month we would like to show you this utilitarian object! Other than often assumed, the round or oval depression at the side of a barber’s bowl was not intended to house a piece of soap but rather a shaving ball. The barber…
The extraordinary legacy behind the creation of the museum of Bailleul in 1859 is remarkably eclectic, while drawing on the identity of its collector, Benoît De Puydt. This collection testifies to a widespread phenomenon in nineteenth-century European bourgeois circles, and draws visitors into the world of a local personality. Born in the French commune of…
Every month we present a special object from the Aronson Antiquairs’ collection. This month we would like to show you this blue and white plate! As early as the late 15th century, exotic animals were collected by Europeans to be kept in their menagerie. It is known that innkeeper Jan Westerhoff had built a menagerie…
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