D2569. Pair of Polychrome Figural Cisterns

Delft, circa 1765

Each marked A / IH 12 115 in blue for Jacobus Halder, owner of De Grieksche A (the Greek A) factory from 1764 until 1768

Modeled as a portly man and woman, the man wearing a manganese hat, a manganese jacket with yellow buttons, over a green-flowered shirt, an orange sash, bright blue breeches and yellow-bowknotted manganese shoes, his left hand clasping the end of his white neckerchief; his right hand on his lap, his female companion with orange cheeks and manganese facial details, wearing a yellow hat with an opening on top, a blue fichu, a manganese bodice, a voluminous white flowered apron over a skirt with flower scattered over a blue surface, manganese slippers, her right hand holding her scarf next to her naked breast; both figures seated on a marbleized base in manganese, yellow, green and blue, issuing at the back of the base a brown colored sinuous tree stump forming the handle and affixed at bottom and top with green leaves.

DIMENSIONS
Heights: 39 and 38 cm. (15.4 and 15 in.)

PROVENANCE
Collection Comte Gérard de Leotoing d’Anjony, Le château de La Montagne, France

NOTE
These figural cisterns are referred to in Dutch as “Bobbejakken”, meaning gin vessel, and therefore most likely intended for gin. Although the man is not depicted holding a beer mug or pipe, he is associated with the English versions known as “Toby jugs,” which often feature these objects, as well as their French counterparts, referred to as “pots-Jacquot” or “pots-Jacqueline.”

Available