Homenews

Lytes Cary Manor is a small medieval manor house located in Somerset, England. The house was originally occupied by the Lyte family who settled in the area in the thirteenth century. The Lyte family lived here for over six generations and gradually expanded the house. 

The founder of that family was William le Lyte, who was a feudal tenant of the estate as early as 1286. It is believed that his grandson Peter built the chapel, which dates back to 1343. In the early sixteenth-century a great hall was added, which reached through a 2-storey porch with a fine oriel on the upper floor. There is a ground-floor parlour with a great chamber above, the ceiling of which is decorated with an unusually early example of plasterwork ribs forming a pattern of stars and diamonds. When this addition was completed, the home was occupied by Henry Lyte, a keen herbalist and gardener who grew all kinds of fruits in the practical garden. In 1578, he dedicated his Niewe Herball to Elizabeth I ‘from my poore house at Lytescarie’.

By the mid-eighteenth century, the family faced serious financial difficulty and in 1755 they were forced to sell the estate to Lytes Cary. Lytes Cary was then tenanted by a series of farmers until Sir Walter Jenner bought the estate in 1907. When the Jenners arrived the Great Hall was being used as a cider press, the Great Parlour stored agricultural materials and the Little Parlour was a carpenter’s workshop. The Little Parlour later became Sir Walter’s private study. He restored the house to a seventeenth-century style and also added a new west wing. Sir Walter also created a new Arts and Crafts-style garden that mostly featured rectangular ‘rooms’ separated by yew hedges and stone walls, each reflecting a different mood or purpose. In 1948, Sir Walter decided to pass the house onto the National Trust.

Today, the intimate manor house of Lytes Cary is filled with the collection of the Jenners. On view are lovingly restored pieces of oak furniture and fittings from the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, paintings, and seventeenth-century Flemish tapestries. It also houses a large ceramics collection, from Chinese porcelain Kangxi wares and ming celadon dishes to European pottery. Besides several objects of Staffordshire pottery, the true highlight is formed by a pair of Delft blue and white pyramidal flower vases, decorated with the virtues and putti in characteristic chinoiserie borders. The vases, which stand 99 cm. (39 in.) tall, are marked for Adrianus Kocx of De Grieksche A (The Greek A) factory at the end of the seventeenth century.

The Musée Benoît-De-Puydt is located in the charming Northern French city of Bailleul. The museum was founded in 1859, when a wealthy collector Benoît De Puydt left his collection to Bailleul, his native town.

De Puydt was born in 1798 in Bailleul. He was a wealthy man, partly because his father was a rentier. As a notary and later also a rentier, he could afford to purchase fine art and objects and became a passionate art connoisseur and collector. With no family of his own, De Puydt focused on his collection with heart and soul. De Puydt’s collection included European works of art, as well as porcelain from the Far East. Because of his classical and literary education, he had a wide interest in furniture, sculpture, painting, ceramics and decorative art.

De Puydt bequeathed his collection to Bailleul, and in June 1859 the first inventory of the collection was made. In 1861, a drawing academy and the museum was opened. Over the years the collection expanded with donations by artists and art enthusiasts. These gifts have continued the legacy of De Puydt, in keeping with the style of the collector’s home, thus preserving the particular charm of this museum. However, a portion of the collection has also been lost. During World War I, many objects were transferred to Normandy, and the remainder was never recovered. The War also destroyed ninety percent of the city, including the museum. A new museum was designed in 1930 and opened in 1934.

The museum contains paintings from the Flemish, French, Dutch and Bailleul schools. It also boasts a collection of sculptures, especially sixteenth century Flemish statues, furniture, lace objects and gold- and silverware. Further, the museum has a large collection of Italian Maiolica, Chinese and Japanese porcelain and faience from Lille, Bailleul and Delft.

The Delft collection comprises both seventeenth and eighteenth-century objects, from vases, chargers and plates to plaques with chinoiserie, biblical, floral or genre scenes. The collection also houses two trompe l’oeil birdcage plaques, decorative Delft tableware, such as trompe l’oeil tureens, and polychrome figures of animals. An extraordinary object in the collection is an early eighteenth century red and gilded plate, with a face surrounded by sun rays in the center. It is marked for Adriaa[e]n van Rijsselberg[h] (1681-1735) who was a contracted painter at De Grieksche A (The Greek A) factory, and set up his own business after Van der Heul’s death.

The Musée de la Chartreuse is located in the city of Douai in Northern France. The initial museum, Musée de Douai, opened to the public in about 1800. The first core collections of the museum were formed during the revolutionary seizures from 1789 until 1794. The Douai collection transformed and grew throughout the nineteenth century and in 1914 comprised approximately 2,000 objects of painting and sculpture, 6,000 archeological exhibits and the same number of ethnographical pieces. However, during the World Wars part of the collection was looted or destroyed by bombs. Unfortunately, the Musée de Douai was also irreparably damaged by wartime bombing in 1944.

Not far from the destroyed Musée de Douai was the former convent of the Carthusians. Although also severely damaged by the bombing in 1944, the city of Douai bought the building complex to install the collections of the old museum in the early 1950s. The museum has been established in this former convent since 1958.

The collection has grown steadily since the 1960s. During the first twenty years after the reopening, more than sixty paintings were acquired. The collection of the Musée de la Chartreuse includes works of art ranging from the late Middle Ages to the present day. It comprises paintings, sculptures, decorative arts and graphic arts. Besides several donations and legacies, the museum purchased many works of art to strengthen its collection.

The collection comprises also several Dutch Delftware objects, of which the pair of Hoppesteyn vases is the absolute highlight. To this date it is unknown how this remarkable pair of vases entered the museum collection. The oldest provenance available is from 1877 when the pair was listed on the museum inventory list. As more primary source materials are digitized, we may one day be able to pinpoint the missing links between Musée de la Chartreuse and the factory that produced the pair in late seventeenth century Delft.

The Kunstmuseum in The Hague has an important collection of Dutch Delftware and we have been fortunate to partner with them in the past years. In the magnificent permanent exhibition ‘Delftware Wonderware‘ the history of Dutch Delftware is told with many objects. It comprises over 235 items, which give a unique view of the Delftware industry through the ages in a dynamic presentation. As interesting and fascinating as Delftware was back in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, the exhibition also shows how contemporary designers are still inspired by the Delftware of yesteryear.

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam houses an important collection of Dutch Delftware. Part of this collection is on view in a gallery dedicated to King Willem III. Especially his wife, Mary, was a great admirer of Dutch Delftware and the orders of her and her court were an important stimulus for the Delft faience industry. 

Dishes, jugs, candle sticks and so many other objects from various Delft factories are on show in this gallery. Mary was fond of gardening and to display her flowers and plants, she ordered large urns, vases and flower pyramids. Of the latter a wonderful large pair is exhibited. Inspired by a Chinese porcelain tower, these obelisk shaped flower holders have a Chinese decoration. But at a closer look, one sees also the western influence, which can be found among others in the recumbent lions that support the bases with a ball or terrestrial globe clamped between their forepaws, the volutes with sphinxes on top of the base with the obelisk rising on top of them, and the crowning finial of a classical female bust, possibly Queen Mary herself.

One of the greatest Dutch Delftware collections is housed in Museum Kunst & Geschiedenis, which is part of the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels, Belgium. The historic building, which was erected by former Belgian King Leopold II, is dedicated to National Archaeology, Antiquity, Non-European Civilizations and European Decorative Arts. The Dutch Delftware collection, bequeathed by A. Evenepoel in 1911, consists of more than 1500 pieces, ranging from the early chinoiserie blue and white style objects to the colourful eighteenth-century European pieces.

An important part of the collection of the Museum Kunst & Geschiedenis is a selection of rare black and brown Delftware. Furthermore it contains lovely plates and plaquettes by Frederik van Frytom and a wonderful vase by Hoppesteyn. Another absolute highlight is the Delft bird cage, decorated in an expanded Imari-style palette, of which the bottom has the most beautiful decoration.

An interesting Dutch Delftware collection in the United States of America is in the located in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art was founded by Daniel Wadsworth in 1842 and opened two years later with just seventy-nine paintings and three sculptures. Today the collection exceeds 50,000 works of art, comprising not only European and American Decorative Arts, but also European, American and Contemporary Art. The ceramics collection contains a large number of Dutch Delftware, mostly a bequest from the Richard and Georgette A. Koopman collection. The pieces range from seventeenth-century ewers and dishes to eighteenth-century figures of cows, plaques and flower holders.

Beautiful is this eighteenth-century pair of flower holders, executed in a so-called ‘cashmire’ palette, which exists out of the colors blue, green and iron-red. The vases are formed in the shape of a fan, with two rows of spouts and handles in the shape of birds. Polychrome colored flower holders are in the minority, since the production of polychrome wares set in after the fashion of the flower holders with spouts reached its height.

Originally intended to accommodate the gentlemen’s society for repatriated sugar planters, the Arnhem museum was founded in 1856 with the idea to create a ‘Local memorabilia related to history and art’. The museum has the great honor to exhibit the impressive collection of the Arnhem nobleman baron Willem Frederik Karel van Verschuer (1845-1922), one of the most important 19th-century Delftware collectors.

Amongst the 800 pieces that are presented, no less than 300 are marked. Not only the collection shows what were the interests of a typical 19th-century collector, it also has the particularity to give a great understanding of the Delftware evolution, from its beginning to its decline. We are delighted to admire such a wide variety of objets: beautiful tableware like a magnificent bottle cooler made by De Grieksche A (1686-1701), miniatures and figurines, numerous home objects including an extremely precious black Delft tea caddy (1700-1725), plaques and many more.

By its didactic scenography, the Museum of Arnhem gives us the opportunity to do a big jump in the past and help us to understand the whys and wherefores of Delftware history, and consequently some essential components of the Dutch culture.  At the end of the visit the influence of blue and white Chinese export porcelain, the Dutch 17th-century tableware conventions, or the predominant pride of place ceramic took in the home of wealthy citizens, noblemen and royalty are no longer a secret.

Located in the east of the Netherlands, in Apeldoorn, the palace Het Loo served as a Royal Residence for more than three hundred years. The palace was built in 1684 under the demand of stadholder William III (1650-1702) and his wife, Queen Mary II (1662-1694) and served as a summer residence where the King could hunt and entertain his noble guests. This splendorous residence shows William and Mary’s passion for gardening, architecture and interior design. 

As soon as Mary II moved to the Netherlands, she immediately demonstrated a deep interest in her country of adoption. In order to decorate both her interior and garden, she commissioned one of the most talented Delft potteries, De Grieksche A (The Greek A) factory. Archaeological excavations in the garden next to her apartment enabled researchers to find fragments of exceptional objects, such as tiered flower vases, jardinieres and flower baskets. These finds show that the Queen played a pivotal role in the conception and in the international development of Delftware from the last quarter of the 17th century. 

In 1970, the decision was taken to convert the palace Het Loo into a museum. Although many of the original Delftware pieces have disappeared today, the museum – by assembling a permanent collection of Delftware, and through the temporary exhibitions – is striving to give the visitor a complete picture of the historical interiors and gardens of the palace. Thereby, the museum took the initiative to illustrate the story of Queen Mary’s love for both Delftware and the gardens by displaying 45 reproductions of Delftware jardinieres in the palace gardens.

With more than 200,000 visitors a year, Hampton Court Palace is one of the most popular attractions in Greater London. Formerly a medieval manor, the palace was acquired in 1518 by Thomas Wolsey, cardinal and first minister of the King Henri VIII. A year after, he ordered its rebuilding, making it the most luxurious palace of England. He enjoyed his sumptuous new residence only for a very short time. In fact, in 1529, Wolsey lost the favor of the king who confiscated the palace. Until 1738, Hampton Court Palace has welcomed several British monarchs. In 1689, Queen Mary II and William III relocated from Het Loo Palace to the Hampton court. The royal couple undertook a massive restructuring and furnished the newly enlarged palace.

Queen Mary had an unequalled passion for Delftware, to such an extend that she has long been viewed as a patron for Delftware. While visiting the palace, Delftware amateurs will be delighted to discover that Mary used to display most of her magnificent collection in her own pavilion, the ‘Water Gallery’. This place was intended as a retreat during the reconstruction of her apartments. Adjoining the Water Gallery was also the ‘Delftware closet’, a room entirely dedicated to her amazing Delftware collection. Unfortunately, the Water Gallery does not exist anymore.

The Queen’s new apartments have been achieved just after her death. It is there that resides today some of the most magnificent Delftware pieces that are known. For example the pair of blue and white large ewers and stands that she commissioned to Adrianus Kocx, the owner of De Grieksche A (The Greek A) factory from 1686 to 1701.

The Chatsworth House is a beautiful estate located in Bakewell in the United Kingdom, and has been the home of the Cavendish family for almost 500 years. Sir William Cavendish, an English nobleman, politician, and courtier, purchased the manor in 1549. With his wife, Bess of Hardwick, they began the construction of the house. Alterations were made until the end of the seventeenth century.  

William Cavendish, 4th Earl of Devonshire and later 1st Duke of Devonshire (1640–1707), renovated the house to include new family rooms and a magnificent suite of State Apartments that were intended for a Royal Visit from William and Mary. William Cavendish was a strong supporter of the ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688 and was also one of the ‘Immortal Seven’, a group of English noblemen who signed the invitation to William of Orange and his wife Mary to accept the throne in place of Mary’s father, James II.

To show his loyalty toward the couple, Cavendish decorated the house with magnificent Delftware objects. As we know, Queen Mary had developed a passion for Delftware during her years in Holland and continued to ensure the patronage of Delft potters even after she moved to Hampton Court. The English nobility would proclaim their allegiance to the royal couple by adopting the same tastes. Consequently, a substantial number of flower vases were acquired by the 4th Earl of Devonshire.

Several of the exceptional Delft pieces acquired by Cavendish are still on view at Chatsworth today. One of the absolute highlights is a pair of pyramidal flower holders marked AK for Adrianus Kocx, the owner of De Grieksche A (The Greek A) factory from 1686 to 1701. The subject matter of the pyramids fits within the decorative scheme of the 1st Duke’s palace, which reflects his Protestant faith and devotion to the court.

The Museum Willet-Holthuysen is located in a double-fronted townhouse on one of the most beautiful canals in Amsterdam. The home was built in 1687 towards the end of Amsterdam’s Golden Age, and  was purchased by the wealthy Holthuysen family in 1855. Later in the 1850s, Louisa Holthuysen inherited the family home and its contents after the death of her parents. Louisa lived in the canal-side house with her pets, lady’s companion and the rest of her staff until 1861, when she married Abraham Willet. Together, they redecorated the house in the prevailing French fashion, sparing no expense or effort.

Both Abraham and Louisa were passionate about art and built up a sizable collection using Louisa’s fortune. Their varied collection included Venetian glass, silver, German porcelain, and contemporary Dutch and French paintings, of which Louisa preferred. Abraham also collected weapons, rare art history books, photos and prints. His collection of arts and crafts was particularly significant, receiving acclaim even during his lifetime. Abraham died in 1895, and Louisa outlived him by a few years. Before her death, she bequeathed the house, its valuable contents and her husband’s extensive art collection to the City of Amsterdam. The following year, the doors were opened and the final wishes of the former lady of the house were fulfilled; her beloved home was transformed into a museum named after herself and her husband.

Their collection is displayed in splendid eighteenth and nineteenth-century period rooms, which bear witness to the Willet-Holthuysen’s lifestyle. The collection houses a few Delftware objects, such as a blue and white garniture, a blue and white cuspidor made at De Porceleyne Byl (The Porcelain Axe) factory, a polychrome milk jug in the shape of a monkey and a delicately painted pair of polychrome shoes.