Dutch and English delftware.(Brief Article)

The seventeenth century in Europe has been described as the great age of maritime trade with faraway places. During the first quarter of the century--labeled the Golden Age in Holland--the Dutch began trading with the Chinese. Among the most highly prized exotic imports were porcelains. Seizing the opportunity to reap profit from the new mania, potters in the Netherlands began making tinglazed earthenwares that borrowed heavily from Chinese forms and decorative motifs. Later in the century England also enjoyed a robust trade with China, sharing a similar passion for porcelain and a local industry to imitate it. In Holland, Delft was one of the centers of production for these wares, which subsequently were named for the city. In Britain, potteries in and around London and Liverpool and as faraway as Ireland supplied the growing demand and turned out numerous forms, ranging from plates to posset pots, salt cellars, and vases.

An exhibition of English and Dutch delftwares drawn from the collection amassed by Benjamin ...