Delft Faience 1640-1730 / Other Earthenware
Delft Faience 1640-1730 / Other Earthenware
Page 1
Delft Faience 1640-1730 / Other Earthenware objects are, if available, categorized in the following order:
- Delft Faience 1640-1730
- Other Earthenware
Delft Faience 1640-1730
Faience is earthenware that is covered with a white tin glaze. Such wares were made in moulds and fired in protective cassettes. It convincingly imitated the appearance of porcelain, although early wares mostly show European designs. When Chinese porcelain became scarce in the 1640's, faience painted in blue with decorations imitating those on kraak and transitional wares were a welcome substitute. It was mainly produced in the city of Delft, hence the name 'Delft Blue' It became highly popular, was exported throughout Europe and added to the glory of the 'Dutch Golden Age'. Besides imitations and pastiches of Oriental models, a new decorative style was introduced, the chinoiserie, in which Oriental motifs are re-arranged in different ways. The variety of shapes was enormous, reacting to public demand. (Jörg 2011/1, p.289)
The earliest tin-glazed pottery in the Netherlands was made in Antwerp by Guido da Savino in 1512. The manufacture of painted pottery may have spread from the south to the northern Netherlands in the 1560s. It was made in Middelburg and Haarlem in the 1570s and in Amsterdam in the 1580s.Much of the finer work was produced in Delft, but simple everyday tin-glazed pottery was made in places such as Gouda, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Dordrecht
The main period of tin-glaze pottery in the Netherlands was 1640-1740. From about 1640 Delft potters began using personal monograms and distinctive factory marks. The Guild of St Luke, to which painters in all media had to belong, admitted ten master potters in the thirty years between 1610 and 1640 and twenty in the nine years 1651 to 1660. In 1654 a gunpowder explosion in Delft destroyed many breweries and as the brewing industry was in decline they became available to pottery makers looking for larger premises; some retained the old brewery names, making them famous throughout northern Europe, e.g. The Double Tankard, The Young Moors' Head and The Three Bells
The use of marl, a type of clay rich in calcium compounds, allowed the Dutch potters to refine their technique and to make finer items. The usual clay body of Delftware was a blend of three natural clays, one local, one from Tournai and one from the Rhineland.
From about 1615, the potters began to coat their pots completely in white tin glaze instead of covering only the painting surface and coating the rest with clear ceramic glaze. They then began to cover the tin-glaze with clear glaze, which gave depth to the fired surface and smoothness to cobalt blues, ultimately creating a good resemblance to porcelain.
During the Dutch Golde Age, the Dutch East India Company had a lively trade with the East and imported millions of pieces of Chinese porcelain in the early 17th century. The Chinese workmanship and attention to detail impressed many. Only the richest could afford the early imports. Although Dutch potters did not immediately imitate Chinese porcelain, they began to after the death of the Wanli Emperor in 1620, when the supply to Europe was interrupted Delftware inspired by Chinese originals persisted from about 1630 to the mid-18th century alongside European patterns.
By about 1700 several factories were using enamel colours and gilding over tin-glaze, requiring a third kiln firing at a lower temperature.
Delftware ranged from simple household items - plain white earthenware with little or no decoration - to fancy artwork. Most of the Delft factories made sets of jars, the kast-stel set. Pictorial plates were made in abundance, illustrated with religious motifs, native Dutch scenes with windmills and fishing boats, hunting scenes, landscapes and seascapes. Sets of plates were made with the words and music of songs; dessert was served on them and when the plates were clear the company started singing. The Delft potters also made tiles in vast numbers (estimated at eight hundred million) over a period of two hundred years; many Dutch houses still have tiles that were fixed in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Delftware became popular and was widely exported in Europe and even reached China and Japan. Chinese and Japanese potters made porcelain versions of Delftware for export to Europe.
Some regard Delftware from about 1750 onwards as artistically inferior. Caiger-Smith says that most of the later wares "were painted with clever, ephemeral decoration. Little trace of feeling or originality remained to be lamented when at the end of the eighteenth century the Delftware potteries began to go out of business." By this time Delftware potters had lost their market to British porcelain and the new white earthenware. One or two remain: the Tichelaar factory in Makkum, Friesland, founded in 1594 and De Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles ("The Royal Porcelain Bottle") founded in 1653. (source: Wikipedia)
Delft Faience 1640-1730 / Other Earthenware - Delft Faience 1640-1730 - Page 1
Object 2010243
Baluster vase
Dutch (Delft)
1660-1680 (the copper neck 19th century)
Height with copper neck 285 mm (11.22 inch), height without copper neck 240 mm (9.45 inch), diameter 230 mm (9.06 inch), diameter mouthrim vase 95 mm (3.74 inch), diameter copper neck 115 mm (4.53 inch), diameter foot 160 mm (6.30 inch), weight 1,801 grams (63.53 ounce (oz.))
Earthenware baluster shaped vase on a flat unglazed base. Fitted with a 19th century copper neck. Decorated in different shades of blue on a white tin glaze in Chinese Transitional style with round the foot a ruyi shaped ornaments and pointed leaves border. On the body three men and a servant in a garden near a riverscape and two 'Long Eliza' figures walking upstairs beside a fence with a bamboo tree and rocks. Round the shoulder a dots pattern border.
The decorative elements are taken from the repertoire of the Chinese Transitional style porcelain. The Transitional style had been very popular in the Netherlands, after Chinese exports came to a standstill around 1647 they were imitated in Delft faience, this baluster vase is a good and rare example of those imitations.
Condition: Some glaze chips to the foot and a large chip to the base, overall tiny scratches to the tin-glaze due to use.
Price: € 399 Currency Converter
Delft Faience 1640-1730 / Other Earthenware - Delft Faience 1640-1730 - Page 1
Object 2010C284
Dish
Dutch (Delft)
1670-1690
Height 45 mm (1.77 inch), diameter of rim 255 mm (10.04 inch), diameter of base 107 mm (4.21 inch), weight 501 grams (17.67 ounce (oz.))
Earthenware dish on footring, flat rim. Decorated in different shades of blue on a white tin glaze with a standing Chinese figure holding a sword upright, while gesturing with his left hand. In front of him two kneeling figures, apparently with their hands tied behind their back. In the background a fence with a tree and rocks to the left and a Chinese pavilion to the right. In the foreground left a figure behind a fence and in the middle a rock with flowers. On the sides stylized flowers and scrolls. On the rim standing and seated figures in a landscape alternating with rocks with flowers. On the reverse panels diverted by blue lines, alternately filled with loosely painted stars and target like circles. On the base two loosely painted shop or potter's marks. The footring has been pierced.
Until about 1640 there was a regular supply of porcelain from China mainly consisting of kraak and Transitional objects. The decorative motifs were taken from woodblocks prints illustrating Chinese plays, histories, novels and dramas. For the Dutch buyers the story behind these decorations was often irrelevant and unknown. It was the oriental and exotic character of the decoration that was interesting. During the 1640s imports into the Netherlands declined steadily until a genuine shortage became discernible around 1650. The faience industry in Delft reacted remarkably quickly to the changing situation. It was precisely faience, a refined product that imitated Chinese porcelain in appearance but not in decoration, that was now easily able to dominate the market formerly supplied with Chinese porcelain, as long as the decorations were also in Chinese-style. The Chinese-style motifs on faience naturally stemmed directly from the examples that were known at the time, namely kraak and transitional porcelain.
The central scene on this Delft dish, which almost looks like an execution, is most unusual and seems unrecorded in literature so far. In this case it is quite possibly after a Chinese theatrical scene, originally either on porcelain or perhaps even directly after a Chinese woodblock print.
The two kneeling figures together provide an interesting clue about the Chinese story that might be shown. [I am greatly indebted to mr. Simon Fan, Australia for providing me with this information]
In front of the Yue Fei temple in Hangzou city, not far from Shanghai, there are two famous iron statues of a seated man and woman, depicting a Chancellor of the Song dynasty, Qin Hui (1090-1155, 秦桧), and his wife Lady Wang (秦王氏). Two other iron statues situated not far from Qin Hui and his wife show two men kneeling. They are the aids of Qin Hui, Moqi Xie and Zhang Jun.
Iron statues of Lady Wang and her traitorous husband Chancellor Qin Hui, Yue Fei Temple, West Lake, Hangzhou, China.
Iron statues of Qin Hui’s subordinates, Moqi Xie and Zhang Jun, Yue Fei Temple, West Lake, Hangzhou, China.
Chancellor Qin removed all his political opponents from the government by use of his control over the Imperial Censorate. Most of his enemies were exiled far to the south, several in fact died on Hainan Island. He believed that the schools should only teach "acceptable ideas" and practiced a strong form of censorship and thought control over the Imperial university.
Qin Hui is widely regarded as a traitor for his part in the persecution and execution of the Chinese hero Yue Fei “岳飛”, a general who fought for the Song against the Jin Dynasty.
Statue of general Yue Fei, Yue Fei Temple, West Lake, Hangzhou, China.
The Story of Yue Fei states that after having Yue Fei arrested under false charges, Qin Hui and his wife, Lady Wang were sitting by the "eastern window", warming themselves by the fire, when he received a letter from the people calling for the release of the general. Qin was worried because after nearly two months of torture, he could not get the noble Yue Fei to admit the false charges of treason and he would eventually have to let him go. However, after a servant girl brought fresh oranges into the room, Lady Wang devised a plan to execute the general. She told Qin to slip an execution notice inside the skin of an orange and send it to the examining judge. This way, the general and his companions would be put to death before the Emperor or Qin himself would have to rescind an open order of execution. This conspiracy became known as the “East-Window Plot”.
After Qin Hui’s death and the resignation of the old emperor, the new Emperor Xiaozong of Song pardoned most of Qin's political enemies. He restored Yue Fei’s honours and pardoned him posthumously. The emperor gave proper burial to his remains. A large tomb was put up in his memory, and he was designated Zhongwu (忠武; "Loyal and Martial"). Widely seen as a patriot and national folk hero, Yue Fei has evolved into a standard epitome of loyalty in Chinese culture.
For their part in Yue Fei's death, bronze statues of Qin Hui, Lady Wang, and two of Qin Hui's subordinates, Moqi Xie and Zhang Jun, were made to kneel in disgrace before Yue Fei’s tomb, thus being dealt the punishment they never received in life. From that point on, Qin Hui was constantly vilified by Chinese historians. He became one of the most important examples in Chinese history of an evil minister. The pair serve as embodiments of the kind of administrative selfishness and corruption that is forever tearing China apart, quite the opposite of the loyal Yue Fei.
The original castings in bronze were damaged and later replaced by images cast in iron.
For centuries these iron statues have been cursed, spat and urinated upon by young and old. There is a poem hanging on the gate surrounding the statues, it reads:
"The green hill is fortunate to be the burial ground of a loyal general; the white iron was innocent to be cast into the statues of traitors."
Every morning, so it’s said, the despicable pair are fried in effigy millions upon millions of times, as street vendors make youtiao (油条) also called Chinese doughnuts or fried bread sticks. The literal meaning in Cantonese, yàuhjagwái (油炸鬼) is “oil-fried ghost or devil” . It is said that the snack, originally in the shape of two human-shaped pieces of dough but later evolved into two pieces joined in the middle, represents Qin Hui and his wife. Revenge has never been sweeter…
Youtiao
For similarly decorated Dutch (Delft) dishes, especially with the same border design, please see:
- Delfts Blauw, (D.F. Lunsingh Scheurleer, Bussum 1975), cat. 72 & cat.82.
- Delfts aardewerk in het Groninger Museum. (F.T. Scholten & C.J.A. Jörg, Groninger Museum, Groningen 1990), p. 17, cat. 18 p.18, cat. 20 (tazza).
- The Edwin van Drecht Collection. Dutch Majolica & Delftware 1550-1700. (F.T. Scholten, E. van Drecht, Amsterdam 1993), pp.136-137, cat. 116, 117, 118.
- Austrumu porcellans un Niderlande. Austrumu un Rietumu mijiedarbiba 17. gadsimta / Oriental Porcelain and the Netherlands. Interaction between East and West in the 17th century, (C.J.A. Jörg, Art Museum Riga Bourse, Riga, 2011), pp.304-305, cat. 115.
For a similarly decorated Chinese Transitional dish, c.1630-40, please see:
Condition: Some chipped of glaze flakes to the rim, most of the glaze of the edge has worn of. Two short glaze hairlines to the rim.
References:
Lunsingh Scheurleer 1975, cat. 72 & cat. 82
Scholten 1993, cat. 116, 117 & 118
Jörg 2011/1, pp.51-53, cat. 115
Price: € 799 Currency Converter
Delft Faience 1640-1730 / Other Earthenware - Delft Faience 1640-1730 - Page 1
Object 2010714
Dish
Dutch (Delft)
1670-1700
Height 42 mm (1.65 inch), diameter of rim 302 mm (11.89 inch), diameter of footring 150 mm (5.91 inch), weight 800 grams (28.22 ounce (oz.))
Earthenware dish on footring. flat rim. Decorated in different shades of blue on a white tin glaze in Chinese Transitional style with a figure holding a fan in a garden landscape. Flower scrolls replace the diaper motif as a border around the centre medallion. On the sides and rim eight large and eight narrow panels. The narrow panels are decorated with Dutch flowers, most likely tulips, four large panels are filled with a figure sitting in a landscape near a shore, the other four large panels are filled with Dutch flowers. The reverse is undecorated. The footring has been pierced.
The peculiarity of this border is that it blends typical Chinese kraak panelled borders with Transitional style motifs. The function of these large dishes varied from serving fruit or cake to being displayed on a wall therefore the original pierced footring was used to pull a wire through on which the dish could be hung. (Rinaldi 1989, p.137), (Jörg 2002/2, p.59)
Condition: Some minor frits and chips to the rim.
References:
Lunsingh Scheurleer 1975, cat. 58
Rinaldi 1989, Pl.279 & Pl. 285
Price: € 699 Currency Converter
Delft Faience 1640-1730 / Other Earthenware - Delft Faience 1640-1730 - Page 1
Object 2011455
Dish
Dutch (Delft)
1670-1700
Height 43 mm (1.69 inch), diameter of rim 266 mm (10.47 inch), diameter of footring 136 mm (5.35 inch), weight 647 grams (22.82 ounce (oz.))
Earthenware dish on footring, flat rim. Decorated in different shades of blue on a white tin glaze in Chinese Transitional style with two seated figures in a garden landscape. Flower scrolls replace the diaper motif as a border around the centre medallion. On the sides and rim eight large and eight narrow panels. The narrow panels are decorated with Dutch flowers, most likely tulips, four large panels are filled with a figure sitting in a landscape near a shore, the other four large panels are filled with Dutch flowers. The reverse with four circles and four asterisks. The footring has been pierced.
The peculiarity of this border is that it blends typical Chinese kraak panelled borders with Transitional style motifs. The function of these large dishes varied from serving fruit or cake to being displayed on a wall therefore the original pierced footring was used to pull a wire through on which the dish could be hung. (Rinaldi 1989, p.137), (Jörg 2002/2, p.59)
On this specific dish the central decoration is known as 'The Lion of Juda' the arch, see object 2010387, was mistakenly identified as scrolls of prayer.
For an identically decorated dish, please see:
For an identically decorated sold dish, please see:
Condition: A T-shaped hairline with a tiny glaze loss spot, a chip and some shallow glaze rough spots to the rim.
References:
Lunsingh Scheurleer 1975, cat. 58
Price: € 499 Currency Converter
Delft Faience 1640-1730 / Other Earthenware - Delft Faience 1640-1730 - Page 1
Object 2011218
Dish
Dutch (Delft)
1680-1720
Height 53 mm (2.09 inch), diameter of rim 348 mm (13.70 inch), diameter of footring 170 mm (6.70 inch), weight 1.088 grams (38.38 ounce (oz.))
Earthenware dish on footring, flat rim. Decorated in different shades of blue on a white tin glaze in Chinese kraak style with a flower basket, filled with flowering peony and chrysanthemum plants encircled by an eight pointed scalloped medallion. On the sides and rim eight large panels filled with sunflowers and artemisia leaves and eight narrow panels filled with dots. The reverse is undecorated. The footring has been pierced.
The dish is decorated in a way Chinese kraak porcelain of the 2nd quarter of the 17th century was decorated. The original pierced footring was used to pull a wire through on which the dish could be hung. (Rinaldi 1989, p.137)
The original Chinese kraak design, please see object 2011235, apparently appealed to Europeans, various imitations, like this Japanese sold object 2011207 and this particular Dutch Delftware dish, were made. Jörg shows three different dishes with this design; the original Chinese kraak version and the Japanese and Dutch Delftware imitations. (Jörg 2011/1, pp.100-101)
For a similarly decorated dish, please see:
Condition: A hairline and some shallow glaze rough spots to the rim.
References:
Price: € 899 Currency Converter
Delft Faience 1640-1730 / Other Earthenware - Delft Faience 1640-1730 - Page 1
Object 2010209
Dish
Dutch (Delft)
c.1700
Height 45 mm (1.77 inch), diameter of rim 310 mm (12.21 inch), diameter of footring 145 mm (5.71 inch), weight 1.690 grams (24.34 ounce (oz.))
Earthenware dish on footring, flat rim. Decorated in different shades of blue on a white tin glaze with various blooming flowers in a double concentric band. On the sides and rim six medallions filled with blooming flowers. On the reverse seven simple flowers.
For an identically decorated dish, please see:
For an identically decorated sold dish, please see:
Condition: Minor glaze fritting to the rim.
Reference:
Lunsingh Scheurleer 1975, cat. 69
Price: € 449 Currency Converter
Delft Faience 1640-1730 / Other Earthenware - Delft Faience 1640-1730 - Page 1
Object 2011968
Dish
Dutch (Delft)
1700-1730
Height 52 mm (1.57 inch), diameter of rim 345 mm (10.00 inch), diameter of footring 165 mm (4.53 inch), weight 1,204 grams (42,47 ounce (oz.))
Earthenware dish on footring, flat rim. On the reverse two flaws caused by small pins on which the dish rested in its protective round tube during the firing process. Decorated in different shades of blue on a white tin glaze in Chinese kraak style with ducks-in-a-pond next to flowering plants encircled by an eight pointed scalloped medallion. The sides and rim with large panels filled with a peach form, an evolved sunflower motif and different Buddhist symbols alternating with narrow panels with a diaper pattern and dots. On the reverse three circles and three asterisks.
Faience is earthenware that is more thinly potted than majolica and both sides of dishes and plates are covered with a white tin glaze. Usually, such wares were made in moulds and fired in protective cassettes. It convincingly imitated the appearance of porcelain, although early wares mostly show European designs. When Chinese porcelain became scarce, in the 1640s, faience painted in blue with decorations imitating those on kraak and transitional wares was a welcome substitute. It was mainly produced in the city of Delft, hence the name 'Delft Blue'. It became highly popular, was exported throughout Europe and added to the glory of the 'Dutch Golden Age'. (Jörg 2011/1, p.289)
The motifs in Chinese style on the faience naturally stemmed directly from the examples that were known at that time: Kraakporselein and Transitional Porcelain. On often sees literal imitations of Kraakporselein decorations such as ducks in a watery landscape, two deer in a wood, a cicada (Latin for grasshopper) on a rock, etc., complete with the highly characteristic borders of wide and narrow panels. In addition to imitations of the decorations there are also copies of the forms, most widely in plates and dishes, more rarely in bottles, wine vessels, kendis and jars, generally decorated in Wanli style. (Jörg 1984, p.20)
These dishes were fired stacked in round tubes resting on narrow pins after the cooling down these pins caused only small flaws on the reverse side of the dishes as can be seen on this dish.
For a similarly shaped and decorated Chinese Kraakporselein dish, please see:
- Ceramics crossed overseas. Jingdezhen, Imari and Delft from the Collection of the Groninger Museum, (C.J.A. Jörg et al., Tokyo, 1999), p.86, cat. 113
-
Sold Ceramics - Sold Kraak Porcelain wares 1570-1645 - Dishes - Page 1 - Object 2010724.
For a similarly shaped and decorated Japanese Arita dish, please see:
For similarly shaped and decorated Dutch Delft dishes, please see:
- Ceramics crossed overseas. Jingdezhen, Imari and Delft from the Collection of the Groninger Museum, (C.J.A. Jörg et al., Tokyo, 1999), p.87, cat. 115
- Austrumu porcellans un Niderlande. Austrumu un Rietumu mijiedarbiba 17. gadsimta / Oriental Porcelain and the Netherlands. Interaction between East and West in the 17th century, (C.J.A. Jörg, Art Museum Riga Bourse, Riga, 2011), pp.94-95, cat. 16.
Condition: Some chips, flaked of glaze and a chip with a connected hairline to the rim.
References:
Jörg 1999, cat. 113, 114 & 115
Price: € 599 Currency Converter
Delft Faience 1640-1730 / Other Earthenware - Delft Faience 1640-1730 - Page 1
Object 2012095
Dish
Dutch (Delft)
Second half 18th century
Height 23 mm (0.91 inch), diameter of rim 229 mm (9.02 inch), diameter of footring 105 mm (4.13 inch), weight (including steel frame) 363 grams (12.80 ounce (oz.))
Earthenware dish, straight rim with a flat foot. Fitted in a steel frame. Decorated in different shades of blue on a white tin glaze in Chinese kraak style with a duck in a marsh landscape with peonies and clouds looking up at a duck in flight in a centre hexagonal medallion. On the sides and rim six broad panels containing peaches and artemisia leaves and six narrow panels filled with dotss. The reverse is undecorated. The footring has been double pierced.
The dish is decorated in a way Chinese kraak porcelain of the 2nd quarter of the 17th century was decorated. (Rinaldi 1989, p.137)
For a similarly decorated, original Chinese kraak dish, please see:
Condition: Missing pieces of glaze to the rim.
Reference:
Price: € 299 Currency Converter
Other Earthenware
Delft Faience 1640-1730 / Other Earthenware - Other Earthenware - Page 1
Object 2012589A
Teapot
England (Staffordshire)
c.1750
Height with cover 125 mm (4.92 inch), height without cover 95 mm (3.74 inch), diameter handle to spout 180 mm (7.08 inch), dimension of mouthrim 50 mm (1.97 inch), diameter of footring 60 mm (2.36 inch), weight with cover 211 grams (7.44 ounce (oz.)), weight cover 30 grams (1.06 ounce (oz.))
Teapot of globular shape on spreading footring. Moulded handle and bent spout. The domed cover with a lion shaped finial. (Over?)-decorated in iron-red, green and gold. On the belly flowering plants in oval shaped panels surrounded bij incisions. On the shoulder Tudor roses, leafs and fruiting grapevine in low relief. On the cover Tudor roses, leafs and fruiting grapevine in low relief and a lion shaped finial.
In the mid-18th century, porcelain was rare and expensive in Europe. Because Staffordshire potters initially did not have the technique and materials to make the real commodity, they made white stoneware as imitation porcelain. White clay from southern England was mixed with crushed, heat-treated flint to form a material that could be superbly sculpted. Pots were then fired at a temperature of over 1000 degrees Celsius and ordinary salt, which oxidized to form the glaze, was thrown into the kiln. (Tippett 1996, p.39)
(An almost identically, shaped and sized English teapot (Staffordshire, dated 1750) in the collection of the Groningen Museum (Inv. nr. 2003.0100) (not included in this sale/offer)).
Condition: Three short hairlines to the neck. Chips to the tip of the spout and the rim of the cover and a hole chip to the belly.
Reference:
Price: € 499 Currency Converter
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