Vase
(c. 1700)

• THE NETHERLANDS, Delft (manufacturer)

The seventeenth-century European demand for Chinese blue-and-white porcelain rapidly outstripped the supply of ceramics arriving via sea from Asia. The northern European pottery industries responded by introducing imitations of Chinese porcelains in tin-glazed earthenware. The earthenware factories in the Dutch town of Delft quickly established themselves as the leaders in production of these imitations; hence the name ‘delftware’ given to these ceramics. While the double-gourd form of this Dutch vase imitates a Chinese model, the decoration blends elements both from the style of late Ming Transitional porcelains and Japanese copies of these Chinese wares.