18 
House & Garden 
f 
A view of Delft by 
Jan van der Meer 
van Delft 
KNOWING and COLLECTING DUTCH DELFT 
A Survey of Its Characteristics and History Which Make It 
Valuable to the Lover of Keramics 
GARDNER TEALL 
Photographs by Jessie Tarbox Beals, Inc., ami by courtesy of Tbe Metropolitan Museum of Art 
This pair of polychrome vases and its accompanying bottle bear the 
mark of Aelbrecht Cornells Keizer and were made about 1642. They 
are rare examples 
A fine example of 18th 
Century Delft bowls 
other of the household gods. Clay feet we know 
them to have, but we display their shrines! 
Dutch Delft is one of the sorts of pottery 
that is especially dear to the gatherer of things 
keramic. Its popularity has brought it to be 
uncommon, but if it is true that twenty years 
is, as statisticians say it is, the average time 
for a collection to rest before it comes upon the 
market again, we may take comfort in the fact 
that opportunities for picking up old Delft are 
not vanishing. We have only to lie in wait 
for them, to be courageous in competition and 
alert in interest. 
No faience has crept more winningly into 
literature than this to which the quaint, quiet 
little city that lies be¬ 
tween The Hague and 
Rotterdam has lent its 
name. Here William 
the Silent dwelt and 
here he met his tragic 
death. Here in the lit¬ 
tle church is the tomb 
of Admiral van Tromp. 
Completing the set of 18th 
Century Delft bowls 
TOME W! 
8WA 
r HEN Horace Walpole’s 
keramic treasures at 
Strawberry Hill came by in¬ 
heritance to Lord Waldegrave 
they were sent to the auction 
room. It took twenty-seven 
days of long sessions for the 
auctioneers to dispose of them, notwithstand¬ 
ing the fact that there were eager bidders for 
every lot in his extensive collection. Of Wal¬ 
pole it was said: 
Mark of Thomas 
Jansz, 1590 
“China’s the passion of his soul 
A cup, a plate, a dish, a bowl, 
Can kindle wishes in his breast, 
Inflame with joy or break his rest.” 
One of a pair of 18th Cen¬ 
tury shelf ornaments 
The other of the 18 th Cen¬ 
tury shelf ornaments 
And how many oth¬ 
ers there are of us who 
succumb to this same 
passion! Pottery and 
porcelain have, I think, 
more devotees in the 
temples of antiques and 
curios than almost any 
