Against the predominantly blue palette of a maritime scene on Delftware, a small passage of color can have a remarkable effect. While ships and their surroundings were generally rendered in cobalt blue on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century tiles, plates, and plaques, a small number of surviving examples feature flags picked out in color. What prompted Delft painters to introduce these rare touches of color, and what significance might they have held?

Among the flags selectively colored on Delftware, the Dutch red-white-blue tricolor appears particularly frequently in the examples considered here. To better understand its significance, it is worth considering the history of the Dutch flag itself. This brings us to 1575, when an orange-white-blue flag was depicted in the album amicorum, or friendship album, of Janus Dousa (1545–1604). The illustration, contributed by the Leiden city secretary Jan van Hout (1542–1609), provides one of the earliest surviving color representations of the Dutch tricolor (fig. 1). Unlike the familiar red-white-blue flag of today, this early example features orange instead of red. Both color combinations were used during the Dutch Revolt (1568–1648), and their relationship would remain complex throughout the seventeenth century.¹

The flag’s earlier origins have long been debated. Red, white, and blue were already associated with the medieval counts of Holland from the Bavarian dynasty, appearing in their heraldry and court livery. In the nineteenth century, this led some historians to suggest that the Dutch tricolor originated in the medieval period.² However, the use of these colors at court does not establish the existence of a flag with three horizontal stripes.

The earliest firmly documented representations of the tricolor remain associated with the Dutch Revolt, when orange, white, and blue became closely linked to William of Orange (1533–1584) and his supporters in their struggle against Spanish rule.³ The colors were reportedly used as early as 1568, during the prince’s preparations for his campaign against the Spanish. In June 1572, when the forces of Adriaan van Swieten entered Gouda in William’s name, they were said to have carried orange, white, and blue banners.⁴

The association of these colors with William of Orange also helps explain their connection with the Watergeuzen, or Sea Beggars. William had issued commissions to privateers fighting against Spanish rule, and historical scholarship has linked their flags to his colors. Yet surviving contemporary evidence does not establish precisely which flags their vessels carried or how consistently they used them. The orange-white-blue tricolor subsequently became known as the Prinsenvlag (Prince’s Flag).

The development from orange-white-blue to the red-white-blue flag familiar today did not involve an immediate replacement of one color by another. Both combinations existed alongside each other, sometimes apparently being treated as variations of the same flag. An illuminating example dates from 1634, when Governor-General Hendrik Brouwer and the Council of the Indies ordered flag cloth in white, blue, and “red or orange” (root ofte orangie).⁵ The wording suggests that the two colors could, at least on certain occasions, be treated as alternatives. It also demonstrates that red was used well before the First Stadtholderless Period (1650–1672), making it difficult to explain its appearance solely through later political opposition to the House of Orange.

As the seventeenth century progressed, red-white-blue became increasingly predominant, although orange-white-blue did not immediately disappear, as several of the objects discussed below illustrate. Practical explanations involving the visibility or durability of dyes have been proposed, alongside political interpretations, but no single cause has been conclusively established. By the eighteenth century, red-white-blue was the customary flag of the Netherlands, even though its national status had not yet been formally established by a single decree. The continued use of the tricolor therefore preceded its official recognition.

That recognition came on February 14, 1796, when the States-General formally adopted the red-white-blue flag as the national flag, effective March 1. This decision confirmed an established practice rather than introducing an entirely new design. Much later, the Royal Decree of February 19, 1937, specified the colors as vermilion, white, and cobalt blue, a term especially familiar to admirers of Delftware.⁶

Over time, the colors also acquired symbolic interpretations. According to one popular explanation, red represents the people, white the Church, and blue the nobility. Other associations include courage, peace, justice, and loyalty. Although appealing, these interpretations are not historically established explanations for the flag’s original colors.

In the Dutch Republic, flags communicated more than nationality. The seven provinces that formed the Dutch Republic retained their own political institutions and regional identities, while maritime affairs were administered by five Admiralty colleges. Ships could consequently display flags associated with provinces, cities, Admiralties, commanders, or trading organizations.

These distinctions were reflected in seventeenth-century marine painting and printmaking. Flags could help viewers distinguish vessels and their affiliations, recognize particular authorities, and understand the occasion depicted. In Hendrick Cornelisz. Vroom’s Skirmish between Amsterdam and English Ships, painted around 1614 and depicting an encounter in 1605, brightly colored flags stand out against the predominantly gray and blue composition (fig. 2). The flags do more than identify the opposing ships. Those on the Dutch vessel include the Prince’s Flag and a banner bearing the coat of arms of Amsterdam, emphasizing the city’s identity alongside that of the wider Republic. Such distinctions could give maritime paintings a political significance beyond the events they depicted.⁷

An especially vivid later example is Abraham Storck’s Mock Battle on the IJ in Honor of Tsar Peter the Great, depicting a naval spectacle staged in Amsterdam on September 1, 1697 (fig. 3). Numerous vessels fly colorful flags, including the Russian flag displayed on the yacht carrying Peter the Great. The flags help identify the participants in a scene commemorating a diplomatic occasion. The event was also depicted in contemporary prints, demonstrating how such maritime subjects circulated beyond painting.⁸

Flags were thus recognizable elements of the maritime imagery that circulated in paintings and prints. Delft painters drew upon this same visual world, adapting ships, harbors, and nautical details to ceramic decoration.

The selective coloring of maritime flags can also be found on seventeenth-century Dutch tiles. A group of four tiles in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, dating from approximately 1650–1680, provides an interesting example (fig. 4). The ships are painted predominantly in cobalt blue, while several flags are distinguished by the addition of color. Particularly noteworthy are the two lower tiles, which show orange flags alongside red-white-blue tricolors. The upper-right tile also features red flags that have not been securely identified.

The lower tiles offer a visual counterpart to the historical evidence that orange continued to appear in maritime flag imagery alongside the red-white-blue tricolor. They do not, however, establish exactly which flags were flown at sea or under what circumstances.

During the eighteenth century, ships featuring colored flags also appeared on Delft faience plates and plaques, sometimes as portraits of identifiable vessels. A particularly clear example is a group of at least three plates made in or after 1723 at De Grieksche A factory in Delft (fig. 5). They depict De Jonge Nagtegaal (The Young Nightingale), a merchant vessel belonging to the Ameland shipmaster Hendrik Jacobs Nagtegaal. Two plates are preserved in the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut, and another in the Cultuurhistorisch Museum Sorgdrager on Ameland.⁹

Alongside an inscription identifying the ship and its captain, the plates depict both the Dutch red-white-blue flag and the distinctive yellow-black-blue flag of Ameland. The latter is particularly meaningful because the island then occupied a separate political position outside the Dutch Republic. The plates may have commemorated a specific maritime event, possibly the safe return of a vessel belonging to the captain’s family, although the precise occasion remains uncertain. Together, the inscriptions and flags illustrate how Delftware could communicate a ship’s identity and maritime connections.

A subtler use of color can be observed on a blue-and-white plaque (fig. 6). Two presently unidentified sailing vessels approach a coastal settlement, their Dutch flags delicately accented with touches of red against the otherwise cobalt-blue composition. Although modest, these additions lend the scene a livelier and more expressive appearance. The plaque may represent a generalized maritime scene rather than a portrait of particular vessels, although their identification by contemporary viewers cannot be ruled out. The red accents may have expressed a sense of Dutch identity or patriotic sentiment, but they could equally have been introduced for their visual effect.