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Team Aronson at SAIL 2025
Our team during an outing during the world famed naval event in Amsterdam recently.
August 22, 2025

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Put That in Your Pipe and Paint It: Tobacco and Delftware in the Early Modern World

Main image: Set of Four Blue and White Armorial Tobacco Jars and Brass Cover, Delft, c.1820, Aronson Collection (inv. no. D1368) Tobacco has served as a medicinal, comforting, stimulating, and…

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Japanese Influences on Dutch Delftware

Main image: View on the Dutch trade base on Deshima, circa 1890, Leiden University Libraries (shelf no. KITLV 36D536) Since 2006, CAMERA JAPAN has been an annual celebration of Japanese…

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Sailing through Centuries: Amsterdam’s Maritime Legacy and the Rise of Delftware

Main image: Blue and White Rectangular Marine Plaque, Delft, circa 1660, former Aronson Collection (inv. no. 25045) Since 1975, organized to celebrate the 700 anniversary of Amsterdam, every five years,…

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Models and Molds

Models and Molds Today, the variety of forms in ceramics seems virtually limitless, especially with the aid of modern technologies like 3D printing. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, however,…

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TEFAF MAASTRICHT

Discover the story behind our monumental 17th-century Delft Flower Pyramid, once in the collection of Cecil Beaton and now acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art — as featured by TEFAF.

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New collectors have a unique opportunity in the decorative arts to survey an accessible field, find an entry point they’re comfortable with, immerse themselves in research and exploration, and embark on a very enjoyable collecting journey.” — Robert Aronson in an interview for TEFAF Online

OBJECT OF THE MONTH

Blue and White Cuspidor

Every month we present a special object from the Aronson Antiquairs’ collection. This month we would like to show you this beautiful blue and white cuspidor, which was made in the city of Delft around 1750. The word ‘cuspidor’ (kwispedoor) comes from the same word in Portuguese: cuspidouro, meaning ‘place for spitting’ and has its origins in Latin. The word conspuere comes from the prefix com- and spuere, meaning ‘to…

Blue and White Cuspidor

Every month we present a special object from the Aronson Antiquairs’ collection. This month we would like to show you this beautiful blue and white cuspidor, which was made in the city of Delft around 1750. The word ‘cuspidor’ (kwispedoor) comes from the same word in Portuguese: cuspidouro, meaning ‘place for spitting’ and has its origins in Latin. The word conspuere comes from the prefix com- and spuere, meaning ‘to spit’. Already in the seventeenth century the ‘cuspidor’ has been competing with the spittoon, which is a less elegant version of the cuspidor. The vessel and its function seem to have been introduced to the Netherlands by the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC), and according to Van Dam 1991, p. 88, who illustrates on p. 89, no. 42, a cuspidor dated 1747, with the increased availability and use of tobacco for smoking or chewing, “in the…

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PASSION FOR DELFTWARE

17th & 18th Century Delftware, Unique by Definition

HISTORY
Delftware has been a national symbol of Holland for almost 400 years. Initiated by the demand for the waning importation of Asian porcelain from the 1640s, Delftware quickly became an iconic national product and one of the greatest Dutch achievements.

PRODUCTION
From the 1680s the Delftware industry has constantly innovated with new shapes, decorations and functions. Their products were coveted by European nobility and royalty for their quality and diversity. The city of Delft rapidly became an inspiration to many European and even Asian potters.

COMPANY
Since 1881, over five generations of the Aronson family have brought to market the highest quality Delftware. We confidently ensure that private collectors and museum and corporate curators will discover fully researched authentic Delftware at Aronson Antiquairs in Amsterdam.

MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

VIDEO EXPLANATIONS

With the images, 3D renderings and descriptions of many of our Delftware objects on our collection page you will find explanatory videos. In these short videos Robert Aronson and Céline Ariaans tell more about shapes, decorations, uses, etc. If you find that a subject is under-represented, please let us know.

ABOUT ROBERT ARONSON

Robert D. Aronson, Aronson Antiquairs

Robert Aronson is the fifth-generation director of Aronson Antiquairs and a leading authority on 17th- and 18th-century Dutch Delftware. After beginning his career at Sotheby’s in London, he transformed the family firm into a globally respected gallery, advising museums such as the NGV in Melbourne, The Met in New York, and the Cleveland Museum of Art.

He currently serves, amongst others, as a specialist in European ceramics on the Dutch Antiques Roadshow (Tussen Kunst & Kitsch), as a board member of the Royal Delft Museum, and as an expert within the European Commission’s Cultural Heritage working group. He is also a certified account manager for applied arts with the Dutch Police Academy’s national expertise network (LDM). Formerly Chairman and member of TEFAF’s Executive Committee, three-term chairman of the Royal Dutch Fine Art Dealers Association (KVHOK), and member of a national commission advising the Dutch government on art and antiques, Robert continues to shape the field through scholarship, connoisseurship, and international collaboration.

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