D2442. Pair of Polychrome Armorial Plates

Painted in petit feu colors of green, iron-red, yellow and pink, with details in black and gold, the center decorated with two unidentified coat of arms, with on the left a running hare on a green ground and on the right in an oval medallion a sailing ship with a fisher and raised Dutch flags in red, white and blue touched by a sea horse on the left, the coat of arms surrounded by green and iron-red foliage around a dotted red surface on both sides, crowned by a black horse head looking left, the rim with four cartouches with lacework in black, a red and yellow flower, green foliage and a red dotted surface near the rim alternated by small flowering branches in pink, yellow, red and green.

DIMENSIONS
Diameter: 23 cm. (9 in.)

PROVENANCE
Collection Etienne Delaunoy, Amsterdam;
Aronson Antiquairs, Amsterdam, 1993;
Dutch private collection, 2023

NOTE
First used in the early eighteenth century, the so-called petit feu firing was a technique that allowed Delft potters to expand their color palette. The technique requires three firings, allowing the potter to use colors that could not withstand high temperatures in the kiln during the second firing (grand feu). The gold and enamel paints were applied after the biscuit firing, the tin glazing and the transparent glaze that added extra gloss (with or without grand feu decorations). With the petit feu colors on top of the glaze, the objects were fired again at a lower temperature (about 600°C or 1100°F) in a smaller kiln known as the moffeloven (muffle kiln).