In-depth Articles

Seventeenth and eighteenth-century Delftware was inspired by many other ceramic centers. Sources of influence included Southern European wares, such as maiolica and Faenza, the much coveted Chinese porcelain wares and later the Northern European ceramic centers, such as Nevers and Meissen. Of course, Delftware was also inspirational for these same ceramic centers. Some examples of…

Nowadays, the city of Delft is synonymous with its earthenware that was produced in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Although it is still somewhat of a mystery why Delft became one of the main centers of faience production in the seventeenth century, it is interesting to explore the social, political and cultural climate in which…

De Drie Porceleyne Flessies (The Three Porcelain Bottles) factory was established in 1661. Like many of the other Delftware factories, De Drie Porceleyne Flessies was recognizable by a sign on its facade, which was described as ‘drije porceleijne flessen’ (three porcelain bottles) in a deed of 1665.1 The sign was still visible a hundred years…

There were three major collectors of Delftware in the nineteenth century. The two well-known figures are John F. Loudon (1821-1895) and A.H.H. van der Burgh (1845-1904), however there was a third lesser known nobleman baron Willem Frederik Karel van Verschuer (1845-1922). Despite his relative obscurity in history, his collection outnumbered Loudon and van der Burgh,…

According to the French anthropologist and ethnologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, miniature, that is to say the reproduction of an object in a reduced scale, is an art work that changes our relationship to the world. Its small size allows us to apprehend the object as a whole, as miniatures have an “intrinsic aesthetic quality”. They change…

In 1651 De Paauw (The Peacock) factory was established. Painted on the facade of the building was the founding year and a beautiful blue and black peacock. The symbol became a trademark for the factory and was repeatedly used as a decorative motif on objects. When the factory first opened, it operated with only one…

Since the early 1900’s modern ceramics produced in various Dutch and even German cities were popularly called ‘Delft Blue.’ These objects continued the successful tradition of seventeenth and eighteenth-century products from the city of Delft. While the antiques gained attention from both national and international collectors and researchers, the modern factories grew their assortment and also…

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…