This is the French language catalogue about Delft earthenware.
During the 17th century, earthenware made a triumph in Europe. As fine and brilliant as the Asiatic models brought to Amsterdam by the Dutch East India Company, Hollants Porceleyn, or Dutch porcelain, made in Delft, introduced a new and equivocal way of using ceramic in interior decoration.
It all began around 1620, and the challenge lead to a recipe that was rapidly exploited by the 20 or so manufacturers listed in Delft around 1660. The height of Delft earthenware was reached between that period and the first decade of the 18th century.
Around the end of the 19th century, the ceramics-lovers' interests went back to the Dutch production of the 17th century, which evoked great commercial success. The excellence of the technique seduced them as well as the cleverness of shapes and the diversity of the creations. The first big collections were thus constituted.
Current studies define better the works of the decorator-painters and highlight the diversity of Delft earthenware. Among those who ensure its conservation and promote it , those who identify it and sell it and those who collect it: Marion van Aken-Fehmers, Pieter Biesboer, Jan Daniël van Dam, Claire Dumortier, Wies Erkelens, Joseph Estié, Patricia F.Ferguson, Wik Hoekstra-Klein, Christine Lahaussois, Reino Leifkes, Adri van der Meulen, Jacobien Ressing, Hans Ressing, Ella Schaap, Paul Smeele, all their angles of view are cross-examined in this book to offer the reader the most accurate vision of this admirable production.
