A rare Dutch Amsterdam Delftware blue and white biblical plaque

A Dutch delftware blue and white biblical plaque
Amsterdam, attributed to the tile factory ‘d’Oude Prins’ (The old Prince) in the Anjeliersstraat
Painter: Pieter van der Kloet
1740-1750

Provenance: a private collection from Spain

The lozenge-shaped plaque has a raised rim and indented corners which are painted with flower motifs in tapered cartouches. It is finely painted with ‘Christ and the women of Samaria’. The woman is standing to the left of Christ and holds a bucket in her left hand. On the background the disciples return from the city of Sighar. The design is based on an engraving from the Historiae Sacrae by Nicolaes Visscher, circa 1650, which in turn was based on an engraving by Mattheüs Merian.
The biblical story is framed within a Régence style cartouche with S-shaped ribbons, filled with trellis Dia.per and foliate.

A group of ten lozenge-shaped plaques with indented corners are known from Amsterdam. Four of them are dated 1736, 1748, 1750 and 1751. The group varies in size, shape of the rim, cartouches, quality of painting and subject matter, but are most likely made in the same factory. One of the plaques has the monogram of an unknown painter G.V.M. to the backside, one other plaque is monogrammed PvK or PvdK, presumable the monogram of Pieter van der Kloet.
Compared with plaques made in Delft, these plaques stand out in two ways. Stylistically they are more related to tiles, tiles pictures and shapes known to Amsterdam, then to Delft examples. Secondly, there are important differences in production techniques. Delft plaques are molded in plaster molds and fired on pins in saggars. The plaques from Amsterdam were not fired in saggars, but were standing on their sides on two small clay cylinders between rows of tiles. The back of the plaques was leaning against the rows. These production differences leave other marks on the plaques then the pin marks on Delft plaques and are important keys to establish Delft from non-Delft production.
Using molds enables a Delftware pottery to produce the same shape over again, up to dozens or even hundreds, depending on how long the molds could be used. The Amsterdam plaques are all handmade and can therefore be considered as incidental products instead of regular production.

Of the ten plaques one similar of same dimensions and cartouche is known in the collection of the Princessehof Museum at Leeuwarden (inventory number OKS 2010-033). This plaque is also decorated with a biblical scene depicting ‘Christ and the women of Zebedee’. Both plaques are painted by Pieter van der Kloet.
Pieter van der Kloet was the owner of the tile factory ‘d’Oude Prins’ in Amsterdam. He is known as a painter of faience, because a fully signed and 1728 dated plaque is preserved in the Amsterdam Museum (inventorynumber KA 19434). He was fifteen when he painted this plaque. More important, four drawings from his hand are also known, all fully signed and dated 1773 (2x), 1776 and 1777. These drawings – cityscapes and landscapes – show a strong resemblance with tiles, tiles pictures, plaques and other shapes that are attributed to Amsterdam. Therefore these drawings are a key and essential in attributing work to Pieter van der Kloet.
The cloud motifs on the current plaque and the Leeuwarden example are so closely related if not in part identical with the ones on the drawings. On that ground alone the plaques can be attributed to Pieter van der Kloet.

Condition: one hairline crack.

Dimensions from side to side 32 cm x 32 cm.

Literature: Jan Daniël van Dam, ‘’Delfts’ uit de provincie. Aardewerk uit Hollandse tegelfabrieken’ in: Vormen uit Vuur (1999/3-4), pp. 23-24, 32-62.

Text by: Jaap Jongstra MA, ceramics specialist and researcher of tile factories in Amsterdam. With special thanks to Mr. Rainer G. Richter from the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden.