Collecting Delftware

Delftware has been around since 17^th century, a time when flourishing middle-class were eager to furnish their homes with trendy imported porcelain from the Far East.  Since the porcelain or china was in short supply, there were attempts all over Holland to create porcelain using various methods. Only in Delft where potters had access to special riverside clay did they come close and came to know as earthenware.  Delftware continues to produce earthenware even after they know of the missing ingredient to create true porcelain.

In the late 19^th century, Joost Thooft, an engineer, bought the Porcelain Jar and requiring that his pottery painters study at the Royal Academy of Art before they were employed.  Most artists apprenticed for seven years before they are considered masters of the art in creating that particular coveted shade of Delft blue.

Delftware, mostly in blue and white, are made into vases, plaques, tiles, and table services.  Delftwares in the past were painted with scenes of daily life, of windmills, and of tulip fields.  Delft artists today are commissioned to do portraits, still life, or landscape scenes from photograph or a sketch.  Blue-and-white Delftware stands out against traditional Dutch home décor of deep-toned woods and black-and-white tiled floors.