The building which was transformed from a brewery into the chamber of the Dutch West India Company, included a house, a courtyard, a warehouse and sheds. De Metaale Pot factory was one of the most famous Delftware factories in the city. Its history extends over more than 100 years and is divided into five production periods.
In 1662, Willem Cleffius became co-owner of De Paauw (The Peacock) factory, which marked his first step into the field of Delftware. At first, his role must have been strictly financial, as he inscribed himself at the Guild of Saint Luke as a plateelhouder (shop-owner) four years later. On January 6, 1670, he purchased De Metaale Pot factory from the directors of the Dutch West India Company.
When his father died in 1679, he became the sole owner of the company. Like his father, he also had shares in other Delftware companies, such as De Witte Ster (The White Star) factory in 1687. The factory developed an international clientele, including Wenzel Ferdinand, Prince Lobkowicz of Bílina (1656-1697) who commissioned a large Delftware dinner service.
Blue and White Ewer
Although the shape was already known in the Netherlands in silver or pewter in the early seventeenth century, it is thought that the Delft potters adopted the shape from Nevers faience models, which in turn had borrowed their inspiration from Italy.
€ 6.500,00
Blue and White Jug
€ 4.500,00
Pair of Blue and White Vases
This style originated in the seventeenth century and quickly became a dominant fashion throughout Europe, enduring through the first half of the eighteenth century. The faience painter chose especially the elements which were in his eyes the most characteristic for Asia and he combined it as he wished.
€ 9.000,00
In 1689, Lambertus was referred to as a ‘jegenswoordigh porceleynbacker’ (nowadays a maker of porcelain) and purchased De Metaale Pot factory in 1691. After the purchase of the factory, Lambertus van Eenhoorn began to comfortably settle into his new life as a potter, leaving his desire to travel in the past.
He quickly became one of the most important Delftware potters of his time, adapting his production to the public’s taste and maintaining the integrity of his factory’s reputation.
Blue and White Armorial Plate
Procuration books show that Everhart and Suzanne were a well-to-do couple who had the means to purchase goods beyond the basic necessities. In light of this, the couple probably commissioned several Delftware dishes with their coat of arms around 1700, because the LVE mark on the plate indicates that the earliest date of production is 1691.
€ 4.200,00
Blue and White Figure of a Chinese Lady
The Delft figure is clearly inspired by Chinese figures, and he is most likely made by the Delft potters after an example in enameled biscuit of the Kangxi period (1662-1722) or a similar figure in soapstone or wood.
€ 5.800,00
Blue and White Cruet Set
This cruet set, consisting of an olive oil and vinegar container, could be used at meal times. Cruet sets like the present were probably a late seventeenth century invention, when fine dining became an exceedingly important social ritual and the dinner table underwent considerable changes.
As with many Delftware objects for the dinner table, the shape of this cruet set was probably inspired on a silver model.
€ 9.500,00
Pair of Polychrome Figures of Seated Monkeys
Once established as the rage in France, where its satirical freedom, its insouciance and its playful exoticism were so akin to the court culture, singerie spread rapidly around Europe. However, with few exceptions, it did not have the same fashionable effect in ceramic representations. Even in Holland, where the more jocular population was willing to laugh at its own foibles, the most popular figures produced at the Delft factories were more representative of familiar daily life than of élitist pursuits, a theme underlying singerie. This is what makes the present figures so rare and unusual, establishing them as one of the very few examples of singerie in Delftware.
€ 8.500,00
Cashmere Palette Garniture
Although it can not be said with certainty that Lambertus van Eenhoorn was its inventor, he was undoubtedly highly influential in its production and responsible for spreading the style.
€ 9.500,00
bought the factory from the widow of Lambertus van Eenhoorn in 1724. The Koppens and Van
Eenhoorn families were indeed close, as it was recorded that Cornelis’s son was appointed as guardian of the Van Eenhoorn children.
Cornelis Koppens is among the numerous talented master potters in the Delftware industry who deserve more scholarship. Beginning in 1723, Koppens was appointed the headman of the Guild of Saint Luke several times.
Pair of Blue and White Fluted Oval Monteiths
The forms were initially thought to be a late seventeenth-century French invention, where they were first created in silver to accompany the wine fountain or cistern and the wine bottle cooler in the increasingly grand displays of kings, princes and ambassadors. However, they were probably invented in England around 1680.
The earliest glass coolers were made of silver and were round or oval, often with lion's-paw feet and handles formed as heads or lion's heads holding rings in their mouth.
Paree died in 1770 and the factory passed to his heirs. Although De Metaale Pot appears to have existed as such in 1771, it is possible that the production ceased shortly after Paree’s death.
Pair of Blue and White Candlesticks
Candlesticks of various shapes have been produced in Delftware from the 1680s onwards. Since their shapes often followed the shapes of silver candlesticks, their form is traditionally European.
€ 12.500
Pair of Polychrome Butter Tubs and Covers
A wide range of wares were designed in the newly stylish trompe l’ceil to complement the dishes, which were symmetrically arranged on the table and within reach for guests to serve themselves. Dinner wares cleverly imitated nature in the form of fruits and vegetables. Further, the table itself would be adorned with real flowers or fruits.
A pair of butter tubs like the present one, formed as a wickerwork basket with a stack of pears, would fit accordingly on the dinner table.
€ 13.500
