Delft Ware

The Japanese Kakiemon porcelain wares became a beloved subject for the Delft potters. Delft objects were produced in a Kakiemon palette often with a typical oriental decoration. By Robert D. Aronson.

The series of twelve ‘Whale Fishery’ plates has a counterpart series of twelve ‘Herring Fishery’ plates. Both series are decorated after the print series of the “Groote Visserij” (“Great Fishery”) engraved by Adolf van der Laan (circa 1690-1742), and published by Petrus Schenk in Amsterdam around 1720 says Robert Aronson of Aronson Antiquairs in Amsterdam.

Announcing our virtual exhibiton 'A Delftware Banquet,' online at www.aronson.com.

Since the study of botany and natural sciences was a growing interest in the Netherlands during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it is no surprise that Delft painters often chose this beloved decoration for their objects. The Delftware floral plates reflect this national passion for flowers and nature. Flower vases, or so-called flower pots, have a long pictorial tradition in the Netherlands. During Holland’s Golden Age, still life paintings of flowers and fruit ‘blossomed.’ The most famous Dutch floral still life painters include Jan Brueghel the Elder, Roelant Savery and many more. Engravers turned the lush bouquets of these renowned artists into prints, which were then available to other artists and artisans to be reproduced in other mediums. Plaques with this kind of rocaille self-frame are not uncommon in Delftware and must have been popular in the rococo era.

Black Delftware is surely the rarest and most elusive group of ceramics produced in the Dutch city of Delft in the early 18th century. Only about 70 objects with a black glaze or black decoration are known in the world and specialist Robert Aronson shares a short idea about these earthenware objects.