D2599. Blue and White Plate

Delft, circa 1680

Attributed to Frederik van Frytom (circa 1632-1702)

Painted in the center in an atmospheric style with a huntsman and his dog standing beneath a tree beside a canal with a traveller crossing a bridge beyond and buildings in the distance, within a roundel of two concentric lines.

DIMENSIONS
Diameter: 24.9 cm (9.8 in.)

PROVENANCE
Anonymous sale, 8 dec 1981, lot 134 (two plates from the same series were sold by Phillips in London, march 9th 1988, lots 57 and 58)

EXHIBITION
Exhibited at ‘From Ruisdael through Frytom,’ Royal Delft Museum, De Porceleyne Fles, November 2022 – March 2023 and discussed and illustrated in the accompanying publication

NOTE
This plate displays characteristic details of Frederik van Frytom’s painting style. With a broad white border, a result of the double white method, the attention is drawn towards the depth and light of the blue and white landscape scene. In a manner unique to Van Frytom, he painted landscapes with various shades of blue, using fine outlines and thousands of minuscule dots. His precise landscapes were strongly inspired by the etchings and drawings of artists who undertook the Italian Grand Tour. They show, rather symbolically, the traces of mankind amongst the grandeur of nature. Van Frytom’s landscapes are composed from several different planes and scenery to create the suggestion of space. Often, the foreground is painted with a tree or shrubbery using small pointillist touches, with water, trees and a building in the distance. In between these scenes, small and graciously draped figures are passing through the landscape by foot. By painting the trees on the horizon in a very light, almost vanishing blue, Van Frytom achieved the unusual sense of depth in this panoramic landscape. This plate fits so well within his oeuvre that it can be attributed to Frederik van Frytom with certainty.

SIMILAR EXAMPLES
Three similar plates with characteristic elements are in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (inv.
no. BK-1984-28 and BK-NM-12400-34 and a larger example with inv.no. BK-NM-3310). Other similar plates by Van Frytom are in the collection of the Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire in Brussel (inv. nos. Ev. 131A, Ev. 131G).