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Delftware

Delftware is the name given to tin glazed earthernware of Dutch manufacture. It is the cousin to French and Belgian faience and Italian maiolica, which have a similar opaque white glaze onto which decoration is applied.

Delftware is still manufactured today but its heyday was in the 17th and 18th centuries when its decorative forms emulated Chinese porcelain exported to the West via the Dutch East India Company. It was made in numerous factories in the Netherlands including the city of Delft.

Tin glaze earthenwares of similar type made in Britain are also known as delftware. London and Bristol were important centres of manufacture.


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5 Questions: pottery dealer John Howard

07 February 2022

Here we speak to dealer John Howard who specialises in British pottery.

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For he’s a holly good festive show fellow

22 November 2021

A dab hand at Christmas shows, Andrew Singleton of Suffolk House Antiques in Yoxford has held one annually for over 25 years.

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The web shop window: English delft dish from 1701

01 November 2021

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

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Super English delftware selection sells stateside

11 October 2021

Adam and Eve charger takes top price in collection amassed by American couple

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Collectors wise to owl rarity

12 July 2021

Back in 1990, following a famous and much-repeated Henry Sandon valuation on BBC Antiques Roadshow, a late 17th century slipware owl jug and cover was acquired by the Potteries Museum in Stoke-on-Trent for £22,000.

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The £15,000 delft puzzle solved

12 April 2021

This particular form of English delft puzzle jug, with its distinctive knopped neck, seems to be peculiar to the second half of the 17th century.

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5 Questions: Delftware specialist Robert Aronson

26 October 2020

Robert Aronson runs Dutch family business Aronson Anitquairs, which launched in 1881 and today specialises in Delftware.

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18th century dentist's delftware ointment jar gives added bite to auction

13 July 2020

This rare 2in (5cm) English delftware ointment pot, c.1775, carries the inscription in manganese 'The Queen’s Dentifrice'.

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Desirable Dutch and English delft lead ceramics attractions in Derby and Newbury

08 June 2020

This 8½in (21cm) Delft blue and white tulip vase below is typical in style and form of the De Metale Pot (The Metal Pot) factory.

Delft blue and white tulip vase

Delft tulip vase and Victorian carriage clock are among five auction highlights that caught bidders’ eyes

29 May 2020

ATG’s selection of hammer highlights this week includes a late 17th century Delft blue and white tulip vase that made over 25-times estimate and a 19th century carriage clock which may have been a gift from Florence Nightingale.

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Beer jug celebrating Glorious Revolution makes 20-times estimate

24 February 2020

A Westerwald salt-glaze jug offered at Reeman Dansie's latest sale in Colchester was worked with stylised tulips and a medallion with the portraits of William of Orange and Queen Mary.

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Versailles steps in for Sabine cast

13 January 2020

Palace uses power of pre-emption to buy cast of Giambologna’s seminal sculpture at auction.

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Warner collection sale: English items assembled over nearly four decades produce suitable results

14 October 2019

Market freshness, provenance and attractive estimates were the features that held sway to ensure a high selling rate for a single-owner collection of British delftwares offered at Woolley & Wallis (25/12% buyer’s premium).

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The Warner collection of delftware

02 September 2019

Market freshness and well-regarded primary and secondary provenances distinguish the 250-300 pieces of early English delftware to be offered for sale by Woolley & Wallis in a stand-alone auction in Salisbury on September 17.

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VOGEL AND OLIVE COLLECTIONS: Two auctions showing the highs and the lows of traditional markets

25 February 2019

The sale of two great collections at auction – one in London, the other in New York – has highlighted the ebbs and flows of the market for early British pottery and furniture.

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Form and function makes the difference for 17th century ceramics and metalwork

25 February 2019

The models used in 17th century ceramics were typically derived from contemporary metalwork – and occasionally vice versa.

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Market undulations for English delft and Staffordshire highlighted at Pelham Olive auction

25 February 2019

Pictured here are three pieces from the Pelham Olive collection sold by Bonhams on January 31. Two are early English delft and are prize examples because they are inscribed and dated. The third is an example of Staffordshire slipware.

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English delftware tankard raises toast to the Pelham Olive collection at Bonhams

04 February 2019

Among the best performers at the Olive collection of early British ceramics, metalwork, furniture and treen sold at Bonhams on January 31 was this large English delftware tankard.

Livery cupboard

Antique dealer's son to auction extensive collection of oak furniture and delftware at Bonhams

09 January 2019

A fine collection of antique oak furniture, treen and delftware owned by Pelham Olive, the son of dealer and co-founder of the Regional Furniture Society Gabriel Olive, is to be sold at Bonhams.

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Delft touch on both sides of the Atlantic

15 May 2017

Inscriptions and/or dates add a premium in many classes of ceramics but especially so in delftware. Some afficionados such as the late Syd Levethan made this a particular goal for their collecting.