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It’s
only fitting that their most famous
pottery, Delftware, is not only
known for its artistry, but also for
its technical superiority.
How
Delft pottery came to be is a story
typical of the Dutch—making the best
of a bad situation.
They needed dikes because their
country lies in lowlands.
They needed wind to power their
mills because they had no rapid
streams or waterfalls.
And they needed Delft, because they
had no porcelain to compete with
Chinese imports.
Tiny Holland, besides having more
than its share of artists and
engineers, is also the home of
historically clever merchants and
bold adventurers. This is what led
them to be among the first in Europe
to develop a thriving Asian trade,
especially with China.
The
Dutch East India Company began
importing Chinese blue and white
ware by the beginning of the 1600s.
Dutch potters knew right away that
these were going to be the rage of
Europe that they would eventually
become, and the competition would
have to be met head-on.
In 1614, Claes Jannsen Wytmans
received a license from the Dutch
government to fabricate “all sorts
of Porcelain, decorated and not
decorated which come from far off
lands.” Thus started the European
tradition of copying Chinese blue
and white wares, which would
eventually lead to English Blue
Willow and Meissen’s Blue Onion in
Germany.
Of
course, the Dutch didn’t have the
materials or the formula to make
true porcelain. Instead, they made
faience, like majolica, a simple
earthenware glazed with a metallic
(tin or lead) oxide.
Inspired by the vitreous shine of
Chinese porcelain, however, Dutch
potters (plateelbacheys)
double-glazed their wares, giving
them a deep shine and making them
more durable than any other faience
made in Europe at the time.
Here’s
how it worked: the pottery was
formed, painted with a white
background, and slow fired under low
heat. Then the artist would paint
the cobalt decoration (originally a
copy of a Chinese design), and the
piece would be lightly re-glazed and
fired again. This process is what
gives Delft pottery its distinctive
porcelain-like look. The demand for
Delft blue and white wares became so
great that by 1800 there were 32
potters making it in Holland, a big
number for such a small country. But
by the 1860s, that number would be
reduced to one, De Porcelyne Fles
(the porcelain jar).
The
reason was competition from first
the English, then the Germans and
the French, all of whom cashed in on
the Delft craze by making their own
versions. It’s all called Delftware
now, and it’s all equally valuable,
although there are still those
collectors who prefer only the Dutch
pieces.
Most of the Delft we see in today’s
antique shops was made between 1860
and the 1930s. De Porcelyne Fles
became Royal Delft in 1919
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