Dutch Delft

The very earliest Dutch delft is sometimes referred to as maiolica for two different reasons one is that was heavily influenced by Italian maiolica and secondly, in the case of bowls and dishes the outside was covered in a lead glaze. From about 1610 delft wares started to be totally covered by a tin glaze and by the second half of the century the character of the decoration became more distinctly Dutch. Although, as in the case of most European ceramics of the 17th and 18th centuries there was still a strong Chinese influence in the majority of pieces. It interesting to note that the early English delft pieces often made use of the economic lead glaze but were not referred to as English maiolica. In the case of both the early Dutch and English delft dishes the firing took place with the dishes resting up side down on stilts, these marks can be quite easily detected. The distinction of between delft and maiolica is I believe rather useless.

It is worth noting that kilns of a new design were introduced into the Netherlands in the middle of the 18th century. These kilns did away with a lot of the kiln faults and also enabled coal to be used instead of wood. Nearly all the delft from about 1750 onwards has a fairly even glaze.

The high points of Dutch delft ware belong to a period stretching from the late 16th century all the way up to the very early 18th century. The painting on these early wares had a great boldness and strength. From about the last quarter of the 17th century the painting could be fine and detailed, but after about 1720, delft ware began to lose some of its personality. These later pieces still have an appeal and spontaneity but the painting is often rather haphazard. Some very charming figurines were produced in the last half of the 18th century. Towards the end of the 18th century there was a revival of some of the early 18th century designs and these can be confused with their proto types.

To be continued