Delft, circa 1700

Marked PK 2 in blue for Pieter Kam, owner of De Drie Posteleyne Astonne (The Three Porcelain Ash-Barrels) factory from 1700 until 1705 and thereafter used by his widow Maria Kam-van der Kloot until 1716

PROVENANCE
John F. Loudon Collection

DIMENSIONS
Heights: 53 and 40.2 cm. (20.9 and 15.8 in.)

NOTE
Founded in 1655 by Jeronimus Pietersz. van Kessel, De Drie Posteleyne Astonne factory was among the earliest Delftware manufactories established along the Geer in Delft. Known variously as De 3 Astonne, De 3 Vergulde Astonnekes, and De 3 Posteleyne Astonne (The Three [Gilded or Porcelain] Ash-Barrels), the factory played a significant role in the formative decades of Delft blue-and-white production. Following Van Kessel’s death in 1660, his widow managed the enterprise until 1667, when it was sold.

By 1673 the factory was jointly owned by Gerrit Pietersz. Kam (born 1652), admitted to the Guild of Saint Luke in 1667, and Wouter van Eenhoorn. After Van Eenhoorn’s death in 1678, Kam assumed sole control and operated the factory independently from 1679 until 1700, when ownership passed to his eldest son, Pieter Gerritsz. Kam. In 1701 Gerrit Pietersz. Kam and his youngest son David became co-owners of De Paauw (The Peacock) factory. Both Gerrit and Pieter died in 1705, after which Pieter’s widow, Maria van der Kloot-Kam, continued to run De Drie Posteleyne Astonne through at least 1716, still employing her husband’s PK mark.

The present garniture set is notable for its early date, as fully developed garnitures were still relatively uncommon in Delft around 1700. Comprising a central covered vase flanked by two bottle-shaped vases, the ensemble reflects an emerging interest in coordinated display groups intended for architectural settings such as mantelpieces. The forms are robust yet carefully proportioned, with octagonal bases and swelling bodies that provide ample surfaces for painted decoration.

The decoration is executed in a dense blue and white palette, featuring a continuous all-over floral and vegetal pattern enlivened by birds in flight. Rather than relying on large narrative scenes, the painter opted for a richly filled surface, minimizing empty space in a manner consistent with late seventeenth-century Delft aesthetics and inspired by contemporary Chinese porcelain. The repetition of motifs across all three pieces reinforces the visual unity of the set, underscoring its function as a cohesive garniture rather than as individual objects.

Delft, circa 1700

Marked LV in blue for Louis Victor, the owner of De Dubbelde Schenkkan (The Double Jug) factory from 1688-1715

DIMENSIONS
Height: 23.3 cm. (9.2 in.)

NOTE
This Delftware ewer is adorned with the coat of arms of Dammas Barthoutz van Slingeland (1688–1771), a member of one of Dordrecht’s most prominent patrician families. The Van Slingelandts were deeply embedded in the administrative structure of the Dutch Republic, with successive generations serving as magistrates, burgomasters, and provincial officials. Their name was further associated with notable landholdings, including the Heerlijkheid Slingelandt and the estate Haaswijk near Dordrecht.

Dammas was the son of Barthout Damasz van Slingeland and Emerentia Repelaer, linking two influential Dordrecht lineages. Following family tradition, he entered civic service and held the office of schepen (alderman) by 1718, later advancing to burgomaster. Tax records attest to his ownership of both a country residence and substantial urban property, underscoring his social standing and financial means.

This ewer, produced between 1688 and 1715 at the Delft factory De Dubbelde Schenkkan, was likely commissioned to mark a significant personal or public milestone in Dammas’ early adulthood. Armorial Delftware of this type, uniting heraldic imagery with sophisticated ceramic workmanship, was often created to commemorate appointments to civic office, marriages within regent families, or the succession to estates. Such pieces functioned both as ceremonial objects and as expressions of family identity and prestige.

Today, armorial Delftware such as this ewer provides valuable insight into the interplay of political ambition, patrician self-representation, and artistic patronage in the Dutch Republic during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

Delft, circa 1700

Marked R in blue for De Roos (The Rose) factory

DIMENSIONS
Height: 18.5 cm. (7.3 in.)

NOTE
This elegant cruet set exemplifies the refinement achieved by Delft factories around 1700, when tableware increasingly combined practical function with sophisticated ornamental appeal. Comprising vessels intended for oil and vinegar, the set reflects the growing importance of polite dining and table display within elite Dutch households, where condiments were presented as part of a carefully orchestrated visual ensemble.

Cruet sets of this type emerged in the late eventeenth century alongside changing dining customs, influenced by French court culture and the rise of multi-course meals. Delft potters responded to these developments by creating coordinated table accessories that echoed contemporary porcelain models. Such sets were often produced by leading factories and were valued for their decorative refinement as much as for their utility.

The decoration of the present set is executed in a delicate cobalt-blue palette on a luminous white ground. The surfaces are finely painted with floral sprays, scrolling foliage, and playful figural motifs, including putti, arranged in a light and rhythmic manner that complements the elegant silhouettes of the vessels. The subtle balance between open white space and ornament lends the set an overall sense of harmony and visual lightness.

This cruet set stands as a refined example of Delft’s ceramic production around 1700, illustrating the city’s ability to adapt international influences to local taste. It embodies the intersection of craftsmanship, domestic ritual, and aesthetic ambition that characterized Delftware at the turn of the eighteenth century, underscoring Delft’s role as a leading center of ceramic innovation during this formative period.

Delft, circa 1695

Both marked LVE and IVB in blue for Lambertus van Eenhoorn, the owner of De Metaale Pot (The Metal Pot) factory from 1691 to 1721 and the IVB mark attributed to Jan van der Burgh, meesterknecht at De Metaale Pot (The Metal Pot) factory from 1695 until 1697

DIMENSIONS
Heights: 52.7 cm.
(20.8 in.)

PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Virginia, USA;
Aronson Antiquairs, Amsterdam

LITERATURE
Aronson 2009, pp. 32-33, no. 16

NOTE
This pair of large octagonal bottle vases exemplifies the sophisticated use of European graphic sources in Delftware decoration during the final quarter of the seventeenth century. While Chinese porcelain offered an important stimulus for Delft painters, complex continuous scenes of this type were often assembled with the aid of prints, which provided transferable figure groups, landscape elements, and compositional frameworks comparable to those admired on Chinese Transitional wares.

Across the faceted bodies the decoration unfolds as a continuous narrative. A dignitary is shown enthroned between three men seated to his right, near a table arranged with various vessels. To his left, a lady approaches, accompanied by an attendant bearing a fan; she turns her head to glance back toward a seated and a standing figure by a river, with a small pavilion visible on the far bank. The careful staging of these groups, with secondary episodes set at the margins, suggests a print-derived compositional logic rather than a direct ceramic prototype.

The imagery appears to be inspired by seventeenth-century European travel literature on China, such as the illustrated publications of Johan Nieuhof and Olfert Dapper, or related travelogues and print series that circulated widely in the Dutch Republic. These sources offered Delft painters a rich visual repertory of imagined “Chinese” figure types, courtly scenes, and landscape motifs, which could be adapted and recombined to create complex narrative compositions on ceramic surfaces.

Rather than copying a single identifiable print, Delft painters frequently drew upon multiple graphic sources, selectively borrowing and reconfiguring motifs to suit the format of the object. Prints and drawings could be transferred onto the unfired tin glaze using stencils, papers pricked along the outlines, through which charcoal was dabbed to establish the basic contours before painting. Such practices underscore the interpretative nature of Delft chinoiserie, in which Asian subject matter was filtered through European print culture and artistic conventions, resulting in scenes evocative of China without claiming documentary accuracy.

Delft, circa 1695

Marked AK in blue for Adrianus Kocx, the owner of De Grieksche A (The Greek A) factory from 1686 to 1701

DIMENSIONS
Height 28 cm. (11 in.)

NOTE
This flower vase represents an early and ambitious phase in the development of multi-spouted flower holders in Delft, produced around 1690 at the factory De Grieksche A under the direction of Adrianus Kocx. Vases of this type belong to the formative generation of Delft flower holders, when potters were experimenting with complex architectural forms designed to accommodate the fashionable display of cut flowers within domestic interiors.

The vase is constructed from stacked, bulbous elements rising from a faceted foot, with each tier pierced by short, projecting spouts arranged radially around the body and culminating in a central neck. This tiered construction reflects a modular approach to ceramic design, in which separately thrown and molded components were assembled into a unified sculptural form. Such structures allowed for the placement of individual flower stems at varying heights, creating a carefully orchestrated floral arrangement that emphasized symmetry and verticality.

The imagery draws upon Chinese decorative sources, mediated through late seventeenth-century European interpretations of porcelain decoration. The integration of birds and flowering plants within a continuous pictorial field enhances the organic relationship between the painted surface and the vase’s intended function as a flower holder.

Flower vases of this complexity emerged in Delft around the final decades of the seventeenth century, closely associated with the production of De Grieksche A, one of the most innovative and technically accomplished factories of the period. Under Adrianus Kocx, the factory played a central role in refining both the form and decoration of flower holders, responding to the growing demand for elaborate display objects that reflected contemporary tastes for symmetry, ornament, and botanical abundance.

Delft, circa 1690

Unidentifiably marked and numbered with a dashed O 10, attributed to Adrianus Kocx, the owner of De Grieksche A (The Greek A) factory from 1686 to 1701

DIMENSIONS
Height 20.5 cm. (8 in.)

PROVENANCE
Belgian private collection;
Salomon Stodel, Amsterdam;
Collection Mrs. Richard Ernst;
Sotheby’s New York, 31 October 1981, lot no. 26

NOTE
This exceptionally rare Delft flower vase belongs to the celebrated tradition of multi-spouted flower holders produced in Delft from the 1680s until approximately 1740. Such vases were conceived to accommodate fashionable floral displays in which individual stems could be arranged separately, reflecting contemporary horticultural interests and the growing prestige of cut flowers within elite interiors of the Dutch Republic.

The earliest Delft flower vases of this type were relatively restrained in form. Known as quintel vases, they consisted of a compact body surmounted by a single fan-shaped row of five tubular spouts. These early examples, introduced in the late seventeenth century, already demonstrate the ingenuity of Delft potters in adapting ceramic forms to specific domestic uses. As demand increased and competition between factories intensified, the basic model was progressively elaborated. Additional rows of spouts were introduced, the bodies became more sculptural, and the silhouettes evolved into oval or heart-shaped profiles that offered greater visual impact and complexity.

The present vase represents an advanced stage in this development. It is distinguished by its double row of spouts, a feature encountered only rarely and indicative of experimental design within the Delft industry. The body has been transformed into a sculptural, heart-shaped form supported by a pedestal foot, and is flanked by striking salamander-shaped handles, a motif documented in the output of both De Metaale Pot (The Metal Pot) and De Grieksche A (The Greek A) factories. 

The salamander-shaped handles contribute an additional symbolic layer. In seventeenth-century emblematic thought, the salamander was believed to possess the ability to live in or withstand fire, making it a potent symbol of resilience, purity, and incorruptibility. The incorporation of such creatures on Delft flower vases may therefore be read not merely as decorative whimsy, but as an allusion to desirable moral and intellectual qualities, subtly reinforcing the vase’s status as a prestigious and meaningful object.

Delft, circa 1690

Both marked AK in blue for Adrianus Kocx, owner of De Grieksche A (The Greek A) factory from 1686 to 1701, and each further accompanied by a distinct figurative mark corresponding to its cover.

DIMENSIONS
Heights: 29 cm. (11.4 in.) and 28.8 cm. (11.3 in.)

PROVENANCE
French Private Collection, Paris

NOTE
The form of the pilgrim bottle has a long and cross-cultural history. In the West, it can be traced to Roman flasks carried by travelers, while in the East it appears in seventh-century Chinese examples, often in ceramics or metalwork. Over the centuries, the form was adapted in a remarkable variety of materials, earthenware, porcelain, silver, glass, and even leather, its flattened, rounded body and narrow neck making it practical for transport. By the seventeenth century, however, many pilgrim bottles, such as this finely painted Delft pair, were conceived not as functional vessels for travel, but as highly ornamental pieces for display.

The Delft potters of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries were well aware of the prestige attached to silver pilgrim bottles. In that period, such vessels were considered among the most impressive elements of a royal silver buffet, their elegant symmetry and broad surfaces lending themselves to elaborate decoration. Some were presented as diplomatic or noble gifts, embodying wealth, status, and skilled craftsmanship. Delft potters adapted these luxury metal prototypes into tin-glazed earthenware, translating the silversmith’s sculptural form into a ceramic medium while enriching it with colorful painted ornament derived from Chinese porcelain or European baroque motifs.

In the Dutch Republic, decorative pilgrim bottles often occupied pride of place in the home, either as part of a garniture on a mantel or cabinet, or arranged symmetrically in pairs. While functional versions were still produced in silver and leather for actual travel, Delftware examples like this pair served a purely aesthetic purpose, reflecting both the global inspirations and the technical mastery of the Delft factories.

Delft, circa 1690

Marked AK No 8 in blue for Adrianus Kocx, the owner of De Grieksche A (The Greek A) factory from 1686 to 1701

DIMENSIONS
Height: 24.5 cm. (9.7 in.)

NOTE
Covered ceramic vessels of varying shapes and styles became known in the Netherlands as gemberpotten, or ginger jars. The earliest documented use of this term appears in 1635 in Dutch ship inventories, where such jars are listed among transported goods, a usage discussed by Grasskamp and Wu (Vormen uit Vuur 232, 2016, p. 67). Although the name suggests a specific association with ginger, these containers were used far more broadly, holding items such as dried fruits, aromatic spices, and other valuable commodities.

Within Europe, lidded jars of this type gradually evolved from strictly utilitarian storage vessels into decorative objects appreciated for their form and painted ornament. Nonetheless, many examples undoubtedly continued to serve practical household functions alongside their aesthetic appeal.

This notably slender jar reflects the influence of seventeenth-century Transitional Chinese porcelain, whose elegant silhouettes and restrained decoration were widely admired in the Dutch Republic. Comparable forms are known from the Hatcher cargo, a mid-seventeenth-century shipwreck that yielded a significant group of Transitional porcelain and provides important evidence for the models that inspired early Delftware production.

Delft, circa 1690

Marked GK in blue for Gerrit Pietersz. Kam, owner of the Drie Posteleyne Astonne (The Three Porcelain Ash- Barrels) factory from 1679 to 1700

DIMENSIONS
Height: 61 cm. (24 in.)

NOTE
This double-gourd–shaped vase is painted on the spherical body with six vertical panels alternately depicting elongated female figures, known in Dutch collecting tradition as Lange Lijs (“Long Eliza”), and still-life panels showing a vase filled with an intricate bouquet. In the figural panels, Lange Lijs appears holding a fan and flowers within a garden or landscaped setting; the same visual program is repeated on the bulbous, tapering neck, creating a coherent iconographic cycle across both lobes of the form.

The Lange Lijs type emerged in the Dutch Republic through sustained exposure to Chinese porcelain from around 1600 onward. Chinese blue and white wares were initially prized in Europe largely for their visual sophistication and “exotic” appeal, and Delft potters, responding to market demand, translated these imported models into tin-glazed earthenware. In this process, Chinese narrative figures were frequently detached from their original pictorial contexts and redeployed as ornamental units, arranged in panels or repeating sequences to suit Western expectations of symmetry and pattern. The result is a telling example of early modern cultural transfer: motifs embedded in Chinese visual culture, where figural attributes and surrounding objects often carried legible symbolic or narrative meaning, were reinterpreted in Delft as emblems of elegance and refined foreignness.

The Dutch name Lange Lijs reflects this reception history. “Lijs,” a diminutive of Elizabeth, had established associations in Dutch usage (from the sixteenth century onward) with a “tall woman” (and also, more broadly, a “slow person”). Because the Chinese women on porcelain were typically rendered as slender and elongated, the term gravitated toward the former meaning, becoming a convenient label for these graceful figures as they circulated in Dutch homes and collections. On Delftware such as the present vase, the emphasis lies on silhouette, costume, and compositional poise, while the original identities of the women (which in Chinese contexts could refer to specific historical or mythological figures, recognizable through attributes) were generally not understood by European consumers. Even so, the persistence of flowers, fans, and attendant garden settings preserves key visual cues from the porcelain prototypes and underscores the role of Delftware  as a mediator between Chinese pictorial traditions and Dutch decorative taste.

Delft, circa 1690

DIMENSIONS
Heights: Both 28.9 cm. (11.4 in.)

PROVENANCE
Dutch Private Collection, Maastricht;
Aronson Antiquairs, Amsterdam

NOTE
This pair of tall, cylindrical rouleau vases, with straight sides, high shoulders, and slightly flaring necks, reflects the enduring influence of Chinese porcelain from the Transitional period (1620-1683) on Delftware of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The rouleau form was a favored export shape in Chinese porcelain, admired in Europe for its elegant proportions and suitability for bold vertical decoration. Delft potters, responding to the growing demand for chinoiserie, adapted the form in tin-glazed earthenware, preserving its imposing silhouette while translating the decoration into their own painterly idiom.

Each vase is painted in cobalt blue with a central motif of an elongated vase filled with blossoming prunus branches, placed on a low stand and flanked by ornamental garden and scholar’s objects, including potted plants and small tables. This “vase within a vase” composition, together with the surrounding “hundred treasures” elements, draws on Chinese symbolic traditions that associated such motifs with refinement, prosperity, and the cultured life of the scholar. In the Delft interpretation, the outlines are more pronounced and the cobalt tones range from deep inky blues to lighter washes, enhancing visibility in European interior settings.

Pairs of rouleau vases such as this were often displayed symmetrically on mantelpieces, or atop cabinets. Their combination of elegant form, exotic decoration, and the rich blue-and-white palette made them ideal statement pieces in fashionable late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century interiors. This pair not only reflects the technical skill of Delft potters in emulating complex Chinese prototypes but also demonstrates their ability to adapt foreign designs to suit European taste and decorative conventions.