Dutch Delft chinoiserie vase

This earthenware vase has an exceptional shape and decoration. While produced in Delft, the vase has the appearance of a Chinese porcelain vase. The shape of the vase can be recognized as Meiping. This typical Chinese shape has a narrow base that elegantly spreads into a wide body and then more promptly ends to a narrow and short neck. In China traditionally these vases were used for showing plum blossom. On this vase, agile Chinese figures are shown giving it a dynamic appearance. These figures are surrounded by branches of plume trees and other chinoiserie details.
This beautiful decoration clearly shows elements of the Transitional period (1621-1661). First the grass around the Chinese figures, represented by elegant small kind of waves typically refers to the Transitional period. Also, the patters on the lower base can be found on Transitional period vases. However, the specific appearance and style of the Chinese figures, and the combination with blossom tree and other branches are a European interpretation. Overall, this vase is a unique piece of early delftware due to its size, beautiful shape and chinoiserie decoration with clear Transitional elements.

Condition: good, some wear to the edges as may be expected.

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Delft answers: the start of copying China

By T.M. (Toussaint) Verkoulen

In the 17th century the admiration for the eastern world spread through whole Europe and became accessible for more social classes because more and more European countries settled trading posts in the east.

It is well known that the city of Delft produced a lot of blue-and white Chinese inspired wares. One of the main reasons for this lays back in 1644. In 1644 the transition from the Ming (1368-1644) to Qing dynasty (1644-1912) imperial family took place (known as the Battle of Beijing), resulting into a turbulent period in China. After the conquest of Beijing, pretenders of the Ming branch continued to claim rule over China, maintaining small but persistent strongholds in its southern regions.

The political shift caused fewer numbers of exports, especially during the 3 years after 1644 but in general the next decades. This gave European pottery makers the opportunity to fill the demand remained under the European households. At the same time, we can see a replacement by Japanese porcelain.

This ‘transition period’ in China can thus be marked as the start of large production of Chinese style Dutch delftware. At the worst point of the Chinese civil war in 1653, the export of Chinese porcelain came to a temporary end.

Although the Dutch did not have a direct mainland trading post in Canton yet, they were impacted by the events. Besides the alternative of Japanese porcelain, the Dutch business- and tradesmen managed to establish 17 delft factories between 1653 and 1662 (out of the 34 known that are established in Delft). From this point in history we can see not only the Chinese style and taste in delft objects but also exact copied patterns of Chinese porcelain, but this time in earthenware.

With no access to kaolin, the Delft potteries were unable to manufacture true porcelain. The blue and white color scheme was imitated by coating the pieces of earthenware with a white tin glaze, to which they applied distinctive blue paintwork. The result was that Blue delft was soon recognized as high quality and more important: at a tenth of the price a much more affordable alternative to Chinese porcelain. It takes till 1708 when von Tschirnhaus and Böttger have experimented enough to be able to copy the difficult hard-paste porcelain in Europe.

In 1662, at the begin of the reign of the Qing Emperor Kangxi, a new event in the long lasting Chinese civil war (caused by the transition of 1644) led by Ming loyalists Zheng Chenggong took place. In that year Zheng managed to capture the important Dutch trading post on the island of Formosa, which led to the end of the once so lucrative trade of the Dutch east India company on the small island (now Taiwan). Formosa got eventually captured in 1683 by Emperor Kangxi. From that date on, the Chinese porcelain production and export has experienced unprecedented growth and had the space to develop into the highest quality.
Although the Chinese emperor Kangxi (1662-1722) was producing the best-quality Chinese porcelain we know in second half of the 17th century, The Netherlands experienced a revival of interest in the ‘kraak’-style at second half to the end of the 17th century. Until the early 1700’s we see kraak-style delft object of which the plates are more common but vases and other wares rather rare.

The kraak-style porcelain is a collective name of porcelain produces between 1573-1661 under 4 Chinese emperors. The porcelain under the last Ming emperor Shunzi (1644-1661) is called Transition porcelain but is also categorized as kraak-style porcelain.

As well we see the Chinese Kangxi-style and copies back in the delft production from 1680 and so on. Often there can be seen a difference between copying the kraak-style and Kangxi-style in Delft. Where the kraak-style wares are often copied in full style or one-on-one, the Kangxi style wares are more often with only Kangxi elements or combined with other eastern patterns and European taste. A reasonable explanation for this difference could be that the Kangxi porcelain was normally available without shortages or restrictions after 1683.

Source:

Y. Givon “A Tale of Dynastic Change in China: The Ming-Qing Transition through Athanasius Kircher SJ’s China illustrate (1667)”, 2019.

T. Giehler “The Ceramics of Eurasia How export porcelain has shaped a globalized world”, 2019.

Titus M. Eliëns “Delftware wonderware”, 2013.