Typical Delft tile of 
18 th Century 
Typical Delft tile of 
\8th Century 
Here, too, the Prince of 
Orange came to live. 
Says Knowles, ‘‘With 
the advent of the Prince 
and the foreign mis¬ 
sions, with their exten¬ 
sive retinue of servants, 
came increased wealth 
on the top of Delft’s 
own commercial and 
industrial prosperity. 
It did more; it brought 
the cultivation of artis¬ 
tic feeling and luxury, 
and a number of dis¬ 
tinguished men of for¬ 
eign culture and tastes 
—rich, sumptuous money spend¬ 
ing, arrayed in costly brocades, 
moving in elegant carriages; 
notables and magistrates from 
neighboring provinces and towns 
—all with a train of officialdom 
pertaining to their rank, with the 
strict precedence and etiquette, 
and the ceremonies of the times.” 
The requirements of the well- 
to-do households of Delft gave 
encouragement to the potter’s art. 
The Dutch were well acquainted 
with the enamelled and glazed 
pottery of Italy and of Spain. 
Such maiolica were undoubtedly 
inspired experiment. With the 
importation of the Chinese blue- 
and-white porcelain—probably all 
that came to Europe at that early 
period passed first to Holland— 
the distinctive faience we know as old 
Dutch Delft came into making, but it 
assumed distinctive qualities immediately, 
differentiating it from either the porcelain 
of China or the white ground wares of 
Italy and Spain. 
How to Know Delft 
Someone once said to me, “I wish I 
could begin to collect real old Delft, but 
I am afraid it is so difficult to pass judg¬ 
ment on pieces that without an expert to 
turn to constantly I should find my cabinet 
full of spurious ware. Mr. Antiqueman 
tells me it is very difficult to tell a piece 
of genuine old Delft, unless one has had 
the years of experience he has had with 
it.” Happening to have 
a slight acquaintance 
with this Mr. Antique- 
man it was not difficult 
to understand why he 
chose to throw such 
mystery around the sub¬ 
ject. Personally I think 
too many antiquemen 
lose more than they gain 
by so zealously guard¬ 
ing those trade secrets 
that are no secrets at all. 
Once to know old 
Dutch Delft is never to 
forget it. The knowing 
it is not a difficult mat¬ 
ter once it is explained and one 
has contact with a genuine piece 
as an object lesson. 
In the first place, old Dutch 
Delft is a pottery, not a porcelain. 
Pottery is always opaque while 
porcelain is always translucent. 
Break a pottery object and it will be 
seen that it was formed of a baked 
clay base glazed or enamelled 
over with a substance that has 
given it a coating which does not 
seem to be incorporate in sub¬ 
stance with the base. Break a 
porcelain object and you will dis¬ 
cover that all the way through it 
appears of a translucent sub¬ 
stance. Old Dutch Delft of the 
earliest sort was composed of a 
soft, friable, reddish clay base. 
Dutch Delft of the 16th and 17th 
Centuries had a body base of yellowish 
or pale brown color. 
The Surface Texture 
These bases instead of being glazed 
were coated with an enamel like slip. Tin 
entered into the composition of this coat¬ 
ing and this tin-enamel gave it a surface 
which I would describe as densely opaque, 
with a metallic feel but without the metallic 
lustre, for instance, of the maiolica wares 
of Italy and of Spain. The surface of old 
Delft is absolutely different from the glazed 
surface of porcelain, of modern pottery. 
The modern Delft of to-day is not to 
be confused with the old Dutch Delft. 
(Continued on page 56) 
(Above) Three rare Delft 
figurines of 18 th Century 
manufacture. They repre¬ 
sent the seasons and a cen¬ 
taur supporting a shell 
(Left) Polychrome Delft 
plate, early 17 th Century 
(Below) “The Entry into 
Jerusalem’’ by Antonins 
Permis, 1758 
(Above) Delft 
portrait plate of 
Prince of Orange. 
Made about 1750 
(Left) Polychrome 
Delft plate, dating 
from the early 
17 th Century 
Typical 1 6th Century 
tile 
Typical \8th Century 
tile 
This bottle and its com 
panion piece were made ii 
the early 18th Century 
Fluted and double-gourd 
shaped polychrome bottle, 
highly decorated 
A sugar or spice box in 
blue and white Delft, 5J4” 
high, 18 th Century 
_ 
