GOUDA-DESIGN
Collecting Dutch Delftware - Part 5
Variety is the spice of life, so the saying goes. Here Doreen & George show a variety of new Delftware additions to their collection.
"Once again we are grateful to Stuart and Kim for inviting us to display some more of our Delft pieces that we have collected over the last few years. Some of the pieces are not very old but never the less we would consider them interesting and we are pleased to have them in our collection."
De Candelear Leaf Shaped Dish
An
attractive hand painted 15.5cm leaf shaped small dish from de
Candelear. This studio in Kerkstraat 14 in the town of Delft
in Holland was founded about 1976. They make reasonable quality
delftware pieces for passing tourists who would like a memento
of Delft to take home. These tourist pieces are not expensive,
are attractive small souvenir items and come with a certificate
of authenticity.
Jumbo Delft
This piece, in the shape of a Dutch cap, was made at the Jumbo Gouda factory c.1953 when they started to make delftware. As you can see it has the Jumbo Gouda mark on the base and under that it has 'Delftse Holland, Hand-Painted'. It is not really fully hand-painted. The centre of the piece has probably been transfer printed and then coloured in but the outside is hand-painted. This is a tourist piece sold in the town of Sluis on the Belgium/Holland border in the region of Zeeland.
N.K.I.
| This 18.0cm diameter
polychrome plate was made at the NKI (Nederlandsche Keramische Industrie) factory in Gouda about 1980. The mark on the base shows a crown bearing the letters NKI. This was used from the 1970's to the present day. It also states on the base that it is hand-painted but the decoration we believe has been created by the decaling technique. They also used a screen printing technique of up to 6x application. |
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If you prefer to collect only hand-painted
pieces you have to be very wary. Many delftware pieces can read
'hand-painted' or 'hand-schildered' when they are not. They can
be either decaled like this one, which gives a very dense colour,
screen printed where the little dots are visible or there is
a transfer printed technique with over-painting. We have even
seen a piece made up of both screen-printing and hand painting.
With some factories you can feel secure in the knowledge that
the items are 100% hand-painted.
De Porceleyne Fles
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A
Cloisonné tile 20.0cm by 14.5cm, made by the de Porceleyne
Fles factory in Delft. This is a symbolic tile that represents
the resistance by the Dutch people against the Nazi occupation.
The tile shows the Nazi dragon draped around the towns and cities
of the Netherlands. The dragon appears to take the shape of the
Netherlands and there is also a Swastika on the dragon's head.
It also shows the Dutch men and women attacking the dragon with
spears and axes. The word 'VERZET' on the tile means 'resisted'.
'DEN VADERLANT GHETROUWE', we believe to be part of the first
verse in the Old Dutch National Anthem 'I dedicate undying Faith
to this land of mine'. The date of the tile being 1945/1946.
We found this tile very interesting as it had something to say.
Thanks to our friend Jan Weiringa in helping with translation. |
De Porceleyne Fles Sander's Plate
An
unusual Delft plate 18.5cm in diameter, from the de Porceleyne
Fles factory. The plate was designed and decorated by the master
Herman Sanders, his inscription of 'S' around 'H' can be seen
on the left-hand side of the base. The date mark is 'CK' for
1966 even though the base shows another mark of '1967'. Sander's
pieces, also known as 'Sandelfo', are very much sought after
and are prized by collectors of de Porceleyne Fles. His designs
are easily recognizable by their abstract nature. Sanders worked
at de Porceleyne Fles from 1948 to 1984.
De Porceleyne Fles - Rood Craquelé
A rood craquel bowl 24.0cm in diameter and 6.5cm deep, painted and designed by the master Cornelius Hartog at the de Porceleyne Fles factory. His inscription can be seen on the base 'H' inside 'C'. Collectors will at sometime come across a similar inscription with the 'C' facing in the opposite direction - this will not be a 'Hartog' piece. As can be seen it is a truly beautiful piece painted equally as good on the underside as on the top. Hartog (1903-1965) worked at de Porceleyne Fles from 1920 until his death in 1965. Although it does not carry a date mark, this decoration of red with a crackle glaze, was first produced circa 1950. So this bowl can be dated between 1950 to 1965.
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De Porceleyne Fles Silhouette Decanters
These are two of what we would describe as Silhouette decanters. They are 23.0cm tall and are complete with stoppers. Looking through Rick Erickson's book "Royal Delft - A Guide to de Porceleyne Fles", which in our opinion is a 'must have', he describes them as being designed by Leon Senf, probably the most important designer (ontwerper) and painter (schilder) of modern Dutch Delftware. The decanters were made for Erven Lucas Bols, the date letters on each being 'AA' for 1905. The decanter on the left was decorated by Petrus Johannes Gerbrands and that on the right by Petrus Leonardus Dijkman. These pieces have now just made it to being antiques (100 years) and are considered to be a rarity.
De Porceleyne Fles Pitcher Vase
A 22.0cm tall pitcher (jug) from
the de Porceleyne Fles factory. The date letter is 'R' for 1896.
There
are two artists - 'VK' for
Antonius Johannes van Kampenhout and 'CK' for George Coenrad
Kunz. One would have painted the landscape inside the cartouche
and the other would have painted the decoration outside the cartouche.
Pieces like this are extremely beautiful to look at. The depth
of the landscape painting is 
really pleasing to a Delftware admirer. De Porceleyne
Fles employed the most talented Delft artists in Holland. We
think that the landscape on this piece is what is described as
a 'water farm'.
PZH 'Irene' Vase
A
1955 vase from PZH at 20.0cm tall. The artist is Gerrit Nicholaas
Veerman represented by 'Gv' (Big 'G' very small 'v') who worked
at PZH from 1918 to 1964. The 'B' after the small 'v' has nothing
to do with the signature, it is written in gold and probably
refers to the decoration ''bloemen" (flower or floral).
We think that this is an important piece from PZH as it seems
to come from a time when they were trying a new line of Pijnaker
(Imari) blue, red, gold and green. The floral decoration on the
vase is picked out in gold which is also on the rim and the base.
The Pijnaker technique is attributed to Adriaan Pijnaker.
Gerrit Nicholaas Veerman was also a decorator of some excellent Gouda pieces. An example of ours (the "Acherom" vase Picture 83) can be seen in Gouda Collectors Gallery 19.
PZH Polydelft Vase
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This is a polydelft vase 28.0cm tall, from PZH, dating around 1955. The letter 'H' on the base is most probably the signature of Karel van de Heuvel who worked at PZH from 1918 until its close in 1964. He was a decorator of both Delft and Gouda pieces. Van de Heuvel seems to have had three different types of signatures. Examples can all be seen on various pieces on other pages in this site. A signature like this one is attributed to van de Heuvel in Spijker's 'Nederlandse Keramiek vanaf de Jugendstil tot 2000'. |
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Zenith 'Elizabeth Bas' Old Master Plate
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A large plate some 34.0cm in diameter. It was produced at the Zenith Gouda factory about 1946. The artist (mark 'S' around 'A') is Art Stolk. He was a master designer and painter of both Gouda and Delft. See another piece by him in 'Collecting Dutch Delftware 4'.
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The original painting of 'Elizabeth Bas', from which this plate is taken, has the signature of the artist Ferdinand Bol (see insert) who was a student of Rembrandt and part of the Rembrandt School of Artists. Even in some books recently printed, the painting of Elizabeth Bas is still attributed to Rembrandt, however, for some time it has been considered that the painting was actually by Ferdinand Bol. This and other paintings seems to be a case of 'who painted what' with Rembrandt and his followers. The new thinking regarding 'Elizabeth Bas' is that it is not actually Elizabeth Bas! As you can see, collecting Delftware leads you down all sorts of avenues. The original picture of Elizabeth Bas resides in the Rijksmuseum. All information can be found through any search engine.
Zenith Costume Decanters
| In Collecting Dutch Delftware 2 we had two Zenith Delft Polychrome costume ladies. We have now managed to collect what we believe to be the full set of five. They are dressed in the costumes of five regions of Holland. All stand 16.5cm tall and are in excellent condition, with those from Scheveningen and Friesland still containing their original contents. There is a similar set made at Zenith which are about half the size of these. These pieces are very collectable and are highly prized by mini-drinks containers and figurine-decanter collectors. The rarest one seems to be the Scheveningen. Here they are shown with their respective regions. |
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Tichelaar Makkum Peacock Plate
A Tichelaar Makkum plate 22.0cm diameter, made before 1979. Decorated around 1955 by Hanny Onrust-Brandsma. The plate is in excellent condition with no hairlines or chips of any kind. Makkum pottery is very brittle and can chip with the slightest knock. Some collectors do not seem to mind a chip or two. This is not Delft it is Makkum but is generally referred to in the same context as Delft, most probably by people like us who are not Dutch.
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Regina 'Millifiori' Vase
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Another
piece from the famous Regina factory in Gouda, Holland by the
renowned polychrome painter Henk van Wensveen. He was probably
one of the predominant polychrome painters in Holland at this
time around 1970. The vase is 29.0cm tall and really is a beautiful
piece completely festooned with a floral decoration and three
cartouches. We don't know how this vase was referred to at the
Regina factory but we can only describe it as a 'millifiori'
vase. We have seen other fine pieces by Henk van Wensveen, for
example a Delft polychrome vase with the Regina Peacock pattern.
The peacock pattern is generally seen on Gouda plates (as seen
in Collectors Gallery
6 Picture 33) and even in floral red
delft which Hendrick Meilof was the master of at Regina. They
are all beautiful pieces. |
"We hope that you have found looking at some of our pieces both interesting and informative. We do not claim to be experts, we are just enjoying our chosen interest in our retirement years and are learning more about Delftware every day. Sometimes our original opinions have to be changed when more information comes to our knowledge."
Kindest regards
George and
Doreen February 2005
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to Part 6