•D2410. Blue and White Pyramidal Flower Vase

The hexagonal base supported by paw feet under a foot-rim with a demi-ruyi-head band molded on each side with an architectural arch- shaped slightly recessed panel painted between columns bordered with foliage, with allegorical figures emblematic of Faith, Hope and Love. Each subject is repeated. The slightly canted upper and lower borders with a blue ground and decorated with leaves and scrolls, encircled by six triangular lotus and scroll ornaments in the interstices between six blue recumbent frogs supporting the six hexagonal tiers above; each tier with six open-mouthed fantasy animal heads forming the spouts, their necks encircled with two molded bands of circlets, and on the first tier painted between each on the first two tiers with a peacock perched on a rock amidst flowering plants, on the third tier with a peacock perched on a branch with double peony, on the fifth tier a peacock perched on breaches and the top with triangular floral devices.

Many of the exquisite Delft models, are decorated directly after Marot’s designs. Although both the Royal couple as Marot were protestant; Marot created pure baroque art. Exuberant and anything but modest. Despite the restrained Protestant image, the royal couple went completely along with the baroque taste of that time. In fact; Queen Mary can be regarded as an important ambassador of the Baroque interior. The specific style even became known as ‘William and Mary’.

The designs of Marot where full of symbolism that emphasized the status of the royal couple. The pyramid shape for example, symbolizes the fame and glory of the monarch. This made it a popular shape for tulip vase. According to an inventory made of the stock of ‘De Metaale pot’ (The metal Pot) from 1691, we know that several flower pyramids have been made.

This particular hexagonal type however, is one of the very few known. All complete pyramids or parts, bear the mark of Adriaen Kocx, except from a pair of bases in Delft. This makes it assumable that the hexagon shaped pyramids have been exclusively produced in ‘De Grieksche A’ (The Greek A) factory.

Interpreting why this special shape could have been chosen, brings us back to Roman times. Around 36 BC, famous Roman scholar, Marcus Terentius Varro, developed his Honeycomb conjecture, which states that a hexagonal grid or honeycomb has the least total perimeter of any subdivision of the plane into regions of equal area. This makes it the perfect shape to express divinity. According to George Ferguson in his Signs and Symbols in Christian Art, from 1954: “Six is the number of creation and perfection, it also symbolizes divine power, majesty, wisdom, love, mercy, and justice”.”In Christian iconography, the six sides of a hexagon refer to the shape of a casket which in turn symbolizes the aversion to sin, departure of this life and the journey to the New Jerusalem. It is therefore that pulpits, from with the audience was prepared for this transition, very often have a hexagonal shape. In a time when symbolism was still of such great importance, it must have been very appealing for William and Mary to have a Delftware flower pyramid in this divine shape. Direct inspiration for Adriaen Kocx, could have been the porcelain pagode, depicted on an engraving called ‘Porcelleyne Tooren’ by Johan Nieuhof (1618-1672) in 1665.