In-depth Articles

The Dutch East India Company (VOC) imported tens of millions of pieces of porcelain during the two centuries of its existence (1602-1799) and flooded the country with Chinese and Japanese tablewares. The decoration on these exotic porcelains gave a glimpse of a far away culture that many could never visit; it took almost a year to reach by ship…

Brush backs are rare surviving utilitarian objects that were made by Delft potters in imitation of the more expensive silver prototypes. Intended as clothes brushes, these practical objects were “often given as bridal gifts [and] may bear a date or a monogram, but since they were not signed, the makers...remain anonymous”.[1]  They were made by…

The work of the French art historian Henry Havard paralleled the rising appreciation and collection of Dutch Delftware in the mid to late nineteenth century. Born in 1838 in the Burgundy region of France, Havard was a radical figure in his youth. During the early years of the second empire, Havard participated in a revolutionary…

Melk en Bloed, “Milk and Blood,” is the Dutch name for a special decoration on East Asian porcelain, in which the colors iron-red and gold dominate. These porcelains were imported from East Asia for only a short period of about 30 years in the early eighteenth century. Although Chinese Milk and Blood porcelain wares are…

De Grieksche A (The Greek A) factory was founded in 1658. It was located on the site of a former brewery in the center of Delft, on the east side of the Geer (today Lange Geer) around the Rotterdamsche Poort. The succession of owners have each contributed to the prestige of the factory, making it…

At the end of the nineteenth century, there were few pieces of Dutch Delftware in Dutch museum collections. Although some museums actively started collecting Delftware, the collections were small and of little significance. At that time, the most interesting collections of Delftware objects, in both quantity and in quality, were passionately assembled by private collectors…

Faience was made throughout Europe, yet until around 1900, anything that looked typically Dutch was labeled Delftware. It was not until between 1910 and 1920 that a reasonable distinction was made between Dutch, German and Scandinavian material.[1]  Further, a distinction also had to be made between Dutch Delftwares, since not all Delftware was actually made…

One of the earliest factories to be established on the Geer in Delft, variously known as De 3 Astonne, De 3 Vergulde Astonnekes or De 3 Posteleyne Astonne (The Three [Gilded or Porcelain] Ash-Barrels), was founded in 1655 by Jeronimus Pietersz. van Kessel, who died only five years later. Van Kessel’s widow ran the factory…

Sugar, also called White Gold is indigenous to the South Pacific. It was first introduced to South America in 1493 by Christopher Columbus during his second voyage to the New World, where the tropical weather was favorable to its development. Rapidly, sugar plantations, which were made profitable by African slave labor arose, and the industry…

Porcelain, lacquer and silk are 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.[1]  Early in the seventeenth century, the Dutch East India…