D2446. Polychrome Melon Tureen and Stand

Marked VH for Hendrik van Hoorn, owner of de Drie Porceleyne Astonne (The Three Porcelain Ash-Barrels) factory from 1759 to 1804

The lobed fruit naturalistically modeled and streaked in yellow and iron-red, one end with a short stem handle, and the cover applied with a sinuous leafy stem bearing leaves, blue and iron-red blossoms and flowers and a small melon in yellow and iron-red forming the knop, the stand in green with a blue-delineated midrib issuing a network of blue veining toward the edge and extending from the S-form stem handle.

DIMENSIONS
Height: 10.1 cm. (4 in.)

PROVENANCE
Dutch private collection, 2023

NOTE
Melons were a popular fruit during the Baroque period, frequently appearing in seventeenth-century Dutch still life paintings. Melons were seen as delicacies due to their intense flavor and aroma. It was also believed that melons possessed medicinal properties, curing fevers and inflammations of organs.

Trompe l’oeil, or deceive the eye, was a technique used in both modeling and painting Delftware to captivate and fool the viewer. One of the predominant centers of production of these naturalistic forms was Delft, where the city’s potteries quickly accommodated the new taste of the nobility and the wealthy bourgeoisie for adorning their tables with brightly colored fruits and vegetables, and zoomorphic objects in the form of domestic and exotic animals and birds. The extraordinary realism of Delft tablewares both puzzled and amused guests.

Tureens, platters, and fruits were designed to complement the various courses. Fruit tureens were mainly intended for the dessert course at the end of a dinner, when fruits, creams and various pastries were served.

SIMILAR EXAMPLES
A pair of similar melon tureens is in the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, marked for Hendrik van Hoorn, owner of de Drie Porceleyne Astonne (The Three Porcelain Ash-Barrels) factory from 1759 to 1804, inv. no. A 4045 a-f (KN&V), illustrated in Lunsingh Scheurleer 1984, p. 196, no. 47; and in Mees 1997, p. 168 (top).

For further information on the factory visit: https://www.aronson.com/drie-posteleyne-astonne/