Delft, circa 1690
Painted in the center with four Asian men seated in front of a gate of the fenced garden near rocks and pines, the well encircled by a scroll border, the cavetto and rim with a wide border of four fan-shaped panels depicting a man striding with a knapsack over his shoulder, alternating with four fan-shaped floral panels, all separated by narrow floral panels edged with ‘cable’ bands, and the underside with alternating O and X devices within wide and narrow fan-shaped panels.

DIMENSIONS
Diameter: 41 cm. (16.1 in.)

PROVENANCE
The Kitty Valkier-Schreurs Collection, Belgium

NOTE
From approximately 1605 to 1635, the VOC mostly imported Chinese porcelain known as ‘Kraakporselein’ (Kraak-porcelain) to Holland, a name that possibly derived from the Portuguese ships called ‘caraccas’. One characteristic of the early imports are the foliated rims on the plates and dishes, which were typically made in molds. Further, the pieces were lightweight due to the thin walls of the vessels. This was advantageous because the Chinese export tax was based on the object’s weight. The decoration, always in underglaze cobalt blue, is characteristically divided into alternating wide and narrow panels, which contain Tao symbols. The central panel often shows landscapes or riverscapes with deer, birds and large flowering plants. Throughout the seventeenth century, Delft potters created faithful imitations of the Chinese Kraak-porcelain from the Wanli period (1573-1620) for table use and for decorative purposes. The paneled border, which was characteristic for the Chinese Kraakwares is precisely imitated on Delft plates. The center is often decorated with urns of flowers, fruits and precious objects, animals such as peacocks, water birds or deer, or with a Chinese scene.

A similar type, featuring a different central motif, is known as the “Lion of Judah,” where the arch was mistakenly identified as a pair of prayer scrolls.

SIMILAR EXAMPLES
The collection of musée de l’Hotel Sandelin in Saint-Omer holds a similar, smaller plate, marked for ‘t Fortuijn (The Fortune) factory, and is depicted in Boyazoglu 1983, p. 99 ill. 191. A comparable charger in both size and decoration is in the Fundação Maria Isabel Guerra Junqueiro e Luís Pinto de Mesquita Carvalho (inv. no. FA 28), and illustrated in J. Baart 2018, pp. 72-73. Similar to this dish is an example from the collection of the National Museum of Prague (inv. no. 5.927).

Delft, circa 1680

Painted in the center with a Chinese man standing beside another seated in a landscape of trees, rocks and distant tower buildings, the cavetto and rim with a wide border of eight fan-shaped panels, four with a Chinese man seated or standing in a similar landscape alternating with four centering a large blossom within a scrolling leafy stem, all within a scalloped line at the edge, and the footrim pierced with two holes for suspension.

DIMENSIONS
Diameter: 39.6 cm. (15.6 in.)

NOTE
This Delft charger exemplifies how Dutch potters drew inspiration from both Chinese Wanli Kraak porcelain and the so-called transitional wares. Kraakporselein (Kraak porcelain) refers to the first Chinese porcelain wares to reach the Netherlands. The term Kraak is possibly derived from the Portuguese trading ships known as caraccas, which ,transported these porcelains to Europe.

The paneled border, characteristic of Chinese Kraak porcelain, is skillfully imitated on this Delft charger. However, the decoration within the panels and the central motif bear a closer resemblance to Chinese transitional-style wares. Unlike Kraakporcelain, transitional wares no longer adhered to strictly paneled compositions; instead, they featured continuous narrative scenes, often depicting landscapes with animals or figures engaged in conversation or dynamic action.Delftware painters adapted these narrative elements, incorporating figural subjects into their own decorative vocabulary, often set within landscapes featuring rock formations and pine trees. The composition of the present charger, though inspired by Chinese models, exhibits a distinctly Delft interpretation, blending Chinese motifs with European stylistic sensibilities. The resulting semi-Chinese aesthetic makes it a prime example of chinoiserie—a style that emerged in the seventeenth century and rapidly gained popularity across Europe, enduring through the first half of the eighteenth century.

SIMILAR EXAMPLES
A large charger with somewhat similar Ming-style decoration, from the collection of Dr. Günther Grethe, Hamburg, is illustrated in Aronson 2004, p. 19, no. 17. Another larger charger, 48.5 cm. (19.1 in.) in diameter, painted in the same manner is in the collection of Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (inv. no BK-NM-4690). Another, closer to the Rijksmuseum example, but of the same size as the present charger, in the collection of Edwin van Drecht, is illustrated in Scholten 1993, 131, no. 112.

Delft, circa 1670

Marked IW 7 in blue for Jacob Wemmersz. Hoppesteyn, the full owner of Het Moriaanshooft (The Moor’s Head) factory from 1664 until 1671, and succeeded by his widow Jannetge Claesdr. van Straten through 1686

Painted in blue, the center with a duck positioned on a rock in front of lavish floral branches, on the left a bird in flight within two concentric lines encircled with four prunus branches with a chrysanthemum, the cavetto rim in ‘kraak’-style with four fan-shaped panels depicting floral motifs, alternating with four fan-shaped panels decorated with a bird on rock work surrounded by branches and a floral branch, all separated by narrow panels with stylized flowers.

DIMENSIONS
Diameter: 34.2 cm. (13.5 in.)

NOTE
Het Moriaanshooft (The Moor’s Head) factory was located in the Gasthuislaan in Zuidkant, an area in Delft with a large concentration of potteries. There are three main phases that mark the factory’s history: the beginning of the factory and its development under the Hoppesteyn family (1658-1690), the division of the factory into two independent companies (1690-1772), and the reunion of the factory into one functioning pottery (1772-1792).

Het Moriaanshooft factory was one of the early potteries in Delft, though the date of its founding and the history of ownership is uncertain until 1658/59 when Jacob Wemmersz. Hoppesteyn became part owner. A few years later, Hoppesteyn purchased the remaining company shares as well as the tools and two pottery washing plants, becoming the primary owner of Het Moriaanshooft factory. According to Van Dam, Wemmersz. Hoppesteyn was originally a cooper. It is likely that he never left his occupation and that he entrusted his mother-in-law, Adriaantje Jandr. van der Sande with the management of the company, as well as the day-to-day operations. In fact, when Jacob Hoppesteyn became the sole owner of the factory, the lease stipulated that the company was leased for at least another three years to Adriaantje. Adriaantje was the wife of Claes Jansz. van Straten, the owner of De Lampetkan (The Ewer) factory. When he died in 1653, she claimed leadership of the factory.

Over the next thirty years, the company progressively grew to become a major figure in the history of Delftware. The objects made by Het Moriaanshooft in this period are in fact amongst the most rare and remarkable of all Delftware production. A document from 1669 states the names of at least nineteen ‘plateelbakkersknechten’ (potters’ assistants) aged between 17 and 55 years old who were employed by Hoppesteyn.

After Hoppesteyn’s death in 1671, his wife, Jannetge Claesdr. van Straten, assumed the management of the business. Jannetge’s prompt remarriage later that year to Willem van Teylingen, the prosperous and entrepreneurial owner of the house next door to Het Moriaanshooft, enhanced the business through his acquisition of real estate. The union also enabled the son, Rochus Hoppesteyn to continue his father’s technical experimentation, which resulted in the production of high quality objects and a new type of polychrome decoration produced through the mixed-fire technique. In this process, the decoration was first applied on the object and then fired at a high temperature. Next, gold was applied during a third fire at a low temperature, resulting in an exceptionally refined object that was undoubtedly intended for the highest class.

In 1679 Willem van Teylingen died and Jannetge became a widow again, at which time, her son Rochus joined her as co-owner of the factory. Although by a law of 1652 a widow inheriting the ownership of a factory was not required to take the usual rigorous examinations for admittance to the Guild of Saint Luke, her son and co-owner Rochus was not exempt. In 1680, he was admitted to the Guild as a master painter, and was then allowed to become the factory manager. With his managerial responsibilities, his role in the factory’s products is not known. It is recorded that he employed other painters, including Jeremias Godtling and his successor as master painter, Gijsbrecht Verhaast, a somewhat independent artist in Delft (and the grandfather of the better-known Gijsbrecht Verhaast), but it is also recorded that Rochus was far more skilled as a painter than as a manager.

Upon the death of his mother in 1686, Het Moriaanshooft factory became the property of Rochus Hoppesteyn and his wife Alida Lansvelt. Rochus’s dearth of business acumen, his reluctance to pursue creditors and his tendency toward dissolute behavior, however, caused both financial and marital difficulties. Rochus was forced to sell a significant part of the factory in 1690, including its outbuildings and four houses. The remaining portion of the business was re-named Het Oude Moriaanshooft (The Old Moor’s Head), and the smaller portion belonging to Rochus was called Het Jonge Moriaanshooft (The Young Moor’s Head). He continued to mismanage this business for the final two years of his short life, leaving his widow to inherit a factory in financial ruin.

By May 2, 1692, the factory’s assets, liabilities and even its stock of unfinished pieces had been inventoried (a copy of the document exists in the Delft Archives), and by July 1 of that year, Alida Lansvelt Hoppesteyn was forced to declare bankruptcy of Het Jonge Moriaanshooft (The Young Moor’s Head) factory. It was then sold to Lieve van Dalen, who, by the terms of the acquisition was required to assume the full burden of the business. Alida Hoppesteyn and her inherited predicament, however, must have received the full attention and sympathy of the Delft community; the final firings at her factory were accomplished with wood sold to her by Lambertus van Eenhoorn of De Metaale Pot (The Metal Pot) factory.

This charger was discovered at the shoot of Tussen Kunst & Kitsch, the Dutch version of the Antiques Roadshow, on May 9th, 2022.

Delft, circa 1700

Painted in the center with a peacock next to a large blossom on the right and horizontal stripes on the left, within an octafoil medallion reserved with alternating panels painted in blue and meander motifs and surrounded on the cavetto and rim with eight fan-shaped panels depicting motifs of leaves and flowers, all separated by narrow panels of dots.

DIMENSIONS
Diameter: 39.7 cm. (15.6 in.)

PROVENANCE
French Private Collection, Paris, 2023

NOTE
Between approximately 1605 and 1635, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) primarily brought in Chinese porcelain referred to as ‘Kraakporselein’ to Holland, a term possibly derived from the Portuguese ships known as ‘caraccas.’ Notably, the early imports featured plates and dishes with foliated rims, crafted using molds and characterized by thin vessel walls to keep the weight minimal. This lightness was advantageous as the Chinese export tax was based on the object’s weight. The distinctive underglaze cobalt blue decoration consisted of alternating wide and narrow panels containing Tao symbols. The central panel often depicted landscapes or riverscapes with deer, birds, and large flowering plants.

Throughout the seventeenth century, Delft potters skillfully replicated Chinese Kraak-porcelain from the Wanli period (1573-1620) for both tableware and decorative items. The paneled border, a hallmark of Chinese Kraakwares, was meticulously imitated on Delft plates. The central design commonly featured urns of flowers, fruits, precious objects, animals such as peacocks, water birds, or deer, or even Chinese scenes. While seventeenth-century Delft plates and dishes in the Kraak style are relatively common, finding a charger of this size with delicate painting, molding, and a precise date is a rare occurrence.

Delft, circa 1670

Delft, dated 1717

Delft, circa 1700

Delft, circa 1695

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

Painted in the well with a bird perched on stylized rock work amidst flowering plants, the rim edge with four blue-ground panels reserved with a panel of either a budding plant or by a leaf motif, alternated by four diaper work panels.

Dimensions
Diameter: 9.7 cm. (3.8 in.)

Delft, circa 1680

Marked unidentifiably NDS, IVDS or AVDS in blue

Painted in the center with two ducks beneath a large peony tree on the bank of a river within an octafoil medallion reserved with alternating panels of a scaleworm and diaper work ground and surrounded on the cavetto and rim with four fan-shaped panels depicting motifs of a scroll or lantern on a tassel and ribbon, alternating with four fan-shaped floral panels, all separated by narrow panels of stylized flowerheads suspended between diaper work or fretwork vignettes, the underside with alternating circle and leaf devices within wide and narrow fan-shaped panels.

Diameter: 38.8 cm. (15.3 in.)

Provenance: Belgian Private Collection

Delft, circa 1680

Marked with numeral I in blue

Painted with four fan-shaped panels depicting important and auspicious scholars’ items, such as a double- gourd and a fly whisk with ribbons, separated by narrow panels decorated with continuous scroll and dot motifs in the neck, interrupted by a border of ribbons around the shoulder, the spout with oral scrollwork.

Height: 16.4 cm. (6.5 in.)

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