D2455. Blue and White Oval-Shaped Plaque

Marked WVDB in blue for Weduwe van den Briel, owner of ‘t Fortuyn (The Fortune) factory from 1759 until 1771

Oval-shaped plaque, decorated in blue with Chinese figures in a fenced garden, one holding a kettle and a fan, flanked by a smaller figure carrying a large parcel on the back, behind the fence a female in front of a willow tree, on the right flowers in a vase within a cartouche surrounded by lacework, a large flowering branch sprouts next to the fence on the left, the sky with small birds and an insect in flight, a pagoda surrounded by trees in the background.

DIMENSIONS
Height: 35.8 cm. (14.1 in.)

PROVENANCE
French Private Collection, Paris, 2023 (Provenance+)

NOTE
‘t Fortuyn (The Fortune) factory experienced its peak of popularity during the second half of the eighteenth century. In 1753 Pieter van den Briel bought the factory from Adam de Wit, and managed it with great passion until his death six years later. In 1764, his widow Elisabeth Elling-van den Briel registered a mark, composed of the letters WVDB. During this time plaques like this were made in the factory. Although the Delft potters began to emulate showpieces, they held on to their own Dutch (or the then familiar Chinese) interpretation. Chinese figures, landscapes, architecture and attributes are rendered and composed in a way that is not Chinese, but semi-Chinese: Chinoiserie. This style originated in the seventeenth century and quickly became a dominant fashion throughout Europe, enduring through the first half of the eighteenth century. Thefaience painter chose especially the elements which were in his eyes the most characteristic for exotic Asia and he combined it as he wished.