•D2532. Massive Blue and White Garniture

Delft, circa 1690

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

Comprising two double-gourd-shaped vases and an ovoid vase and cover, all painted on the spherical body with six panels with long Eliza’s holding a fan and flowers in a landscape and a garden, alternated with panels decorated with a vase containing an intricate bouquet, repeated on the bulbous and tapering neck of the double-gourd-shaped vases.

DIMENSIONS
Heights: 58 cm. (22.8 in.)

PROVENANCE
Collection Oscar Huldschinsky (1846–1931), 1928

Double-gourd-shaped vases:
Swedish Private Collection probably purchased in 1928, and hence by family descent

Ovoid vase with cover:
Kollenburg Antiquairs, Oirschot;
Cor & An Erwich (Barbet) Collection, Belgium; Aronson Antiquairs, Amsterdam

LITERATURE
The ovoid vase with cover is described and illustrated in Aronson 2001, ill. 13

NOTE
This garniture set was once part of the esteemed collection of Oscar Huldschinsky (1846–1931), a prominent Jewish industrialist and patron of the arts. Based in Berlin, Huldschinsky built a fortune in coal mining and the iron industry in Upper Silesia, amassing significant wealth, which was estimated at 30 million marks in 1914. His success enabled him to acquire a remarkable art collection, featuring works by Botticelli, Tiepolo, Rembrandt, Frans Hals, and Rubens. As one of the most influential art patrons of the early 20th century, he generously donated important works to Berlin museums, including Edgar Degas’ Conversation and Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker. Huldschinsky passed away in 1931 and was interred in the family burial site he had established at the Neuen Friedhof in Wannsee, a cemetery open to both Christians and Jews. The item’s presence in Huldschinsky’s collection reflects his refined taste and status as a major benefactor and connoisseur of fine art. In 1928, due to financial difficulties, Huldschinsky was compelled to auction parts of his collection. This set was offered separately at Hotel Esplanade in Berlin as lots 228 and 229 on May, 11 (Paul Cassirer and Hugo Helbing ‘Die Sammlung Oscar Huldschinsky’, Berlin, 1928, p. 66). The pair of vases was most probably sold to a private collector in Sweden, while the central vase was initially sold to an unknown buyer, but later resurfaced in the Netherlands. After almost a century of separation, the set is now reunited.

SIMILAR EXAMPLES
No other complete garniture set of this size, made at De Drie Posteleyne Astonne during the directorship of Gerrit Kam, is known. A vase similar in model and design to the pair of baluster vases, also marked GK but of smaller size (49.3 cm. [19.4 in]), is in the collection of the Kunstmuseum, The Hague (inv.no. 0216372). The body of this vase is divided into six panels, each containing a similar flower bouquet alternated with depictions of a long Eliza and a servant on a terrace. Another vase in their collection, of a different model and design but also marked GK (inv. no. 0216371) and stands at 57.2 cm. (22.5 in.) high, almost as tall as the present pair. A vase of a different model but with comparable chinoiserie decoration in panels, measuring 49 cm. (19.3 in.) in height, is illustrated in Gerda Brust’s Natuurlijk Mooi 2. Een selectie bruikbare en andere kunst uit de Terra Verde Collectie 2022 (p. 416). A closely related covered vase, marked GK and measuring 50.2 cm. (19.7 in.) in height, is part of the Victoria & Albert Museum’s collection in London (inv. no. C.193&A-1912). The Rijksmuseum’s collection includes a covered vase marked GK (inv. no. BK- 1969-31) of comparable model, measuring 49 cm. (19.3 in.) in height, though it features a different decoration.