Delftware charger
Blue and white on tin-glazed earthenware – Europe’s answer to Chinese porcelain.
When the East India Company brought Chinese porcelain home in the 17th century, more people wanted blue and white than could afford it. The potters of Delft made imitations in faience – earthenware with a white tin glaze.
Delftware was in turn copied all over Europe, in England, Germany and Sweden. It is softer than porcelain and easily wears at the edges.
Materials: Earthenware with white tin glaze, painted in cobalt blue
Manufacture: The body is fired, dipped in tin glaze, painted and fired again; the decoration sinks into the glaze.
Where the glaze is worn, the red or yellowish body shows through.
Chinese motifs in Dutch interpretation: flowers, landscapes and figures.
Marks under the base referring to the workshops, such as De Porceleyne Fles.