A print by Pieter van den Berge from 1708 gives a perfect impression of the increasing popularity of drinking tea in the Dutch Republic in the course of the 17th century. With the practice the need for appropriate accoutrements also grew. As the print shows, tea was consumed slightly differently than today. Hot water was…
Exotic scenes on Delftware Warm, intense colors; rich, dense patterns; landscapes with lush plants and exotic animals, the pair of vases above exude an exotic feel. While they might not seem to be typically Dutch, you might be surprised because the vases were made in Delft around 1700, using the cashmere color palette. Characteristic of…
Although kendis—handle- less bottles featuring small-tipped, often bulbous spouts—are not a form common to European and American material culture, they long have been popular in Asia. Regional names for such vessels include kondi (Sumatra), gendi (Java), kindi (Kerala, India) and the Malaysian kundikâ. Kendis were produced since antiquity in Southeast Asia. The Chinese began making…
During her brief five years as joint British monarch with her husband William of Orange, Queen Mary II furthered the collecting habit that she had enjoyed in Holland following their marriage. Described by a contemporary writer as ‘China Mania’, Mary had amassed a collection of over 750 Chinese, Japanese and Delftware ceramic items and, more…
This odd-looking Dutch Delftware form is called a “monteith.” Monteiths were large bowls with scalloped rims that allowed wineglasses to suspend in chilled water. Their first appearance in 1683 is described by Oxford diarist Anthony à Wood (1632-1695), who wrote: “This yeare in the summer time came up a vessel or bason notched at the…
The initial donation of a Delft eighteenth century plate in 1882 to the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art (renamed the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1918) provided the foundation for a collection of Dutch earthenware that now numbers over one hundred andtwenty five pieces. The unusual orange and blue decoration of this circa…
Blue and white vases with spouts filled with multi-colored flowers are a stunning visual sensation. Perhaps due to their exclusive ownership and the short-lived nature of flowers, only a few depictions exist of how these vases were used in the late seventeenth century. An important visual source for their use is seen on two embroidered…
By around 1660 the fame of the Delft faience potters had spread far beyond the borders of the Dutch Republic. Delft earthenware was a prized possession of European monarchs. One such example is provided by the Delft dishes with coats of arms created for the court of the powerful French king Louis XIV. Under this…
In 1950 The Metropolitan Museum of Art received two earthenware plaques from R. Thornton Wilson (1886- 1977). These pieces were part of an important gift of European porcelain and faience collected by the donor specifically for the Museum. In fact, some of the best examples of Dutch Delftware in the Met’s holdings came from the…
The blue-and-white ceramic was long sought and loved worldwide, particularly since the introduction of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain in Europe in the fifteenth century. The arrival of Chinese porcelain triggered European potters to produce imitations of this unique Chinese product since the seventeenth century. In Delft, the imitation process first occurred in about 1620-1630 when a…
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