An early Dutch Delft blue and white two-handled flower vase and cover, circa 1685

With Lefebvre et Fils, Paris, from whom it was acquired.

The Hague, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, 'Vases with Spouts: Three Centuries of Splendour', 31 March - 23 September 2007.

Marion S. Van Aken-Fehmers et al., Delfts aardewerk, Geschiedenis van een nationaal product, Vazen met tuiten, 300 jaar pronkstukken/Dutch Delftware, History of a National Product, Volume IV, Vases with Spouts, Three Centuries of Splendour, Vol. IV, Zwolle, 2007, p. 148, cat. no. 3.01.

It would appear that very few Dutch Delft flower vases of this bowl form are recorded, and that the present example, dating to circa 1685, with indistinct SVE mark for Samuel van Eenhoorn, owner of De Grieksche A factory (1678-1687), is among the earliest known of the type.

Regarded as the one of the most iconic and technically challenging achievements of the Delft ceramics industry, spouted vases for displaying flowers were first made during the 1680s and 1690s for Mary II, wife of the King-Stadt holder William III, who favoured them for the furnishing of her palaces. Indeed, fragments of round tiered vases with spouts, as well as those of ‘pyramid’ shape, were found in Mary’s private garden at Het Loo Palace, indicating that they were in daily use in her apartments and confirmed by contemporary inventories made when William and Mary moved from one Dutch palace to another. Her patronage of the potteries in Delft helped to fuel the fashion for spouted vase shapes with innovative makers devising ever more elaborate forms. In the case of our vase, the spouts are unusually narrow, suggesting that it was intended for the display of delicate foliage, such as thin-stemmed branches or carnations.

The present lot was exhibited in the ground-breaking 2007 exhibition at the Kunstmuseum, The Haag, 'Vases with Spouts: Three Centuries of Splendour' and is illustrated in the accompanying catalogue by Marion S. Van Aken-Fehmers, Delft Aardewerk Geschiedenis van een national product Vazen met tuiten 300 jaar pronkstukken, Volume IV, Zwolle, 2007, p. 148, cat. no. 3.01. The decoration features a mixture of European elements between Chinese-style borders, with flower garlands, including tulips and convolvulus, pendent from male masks, and continuous scenes depicting country life with figures hunting, fishing, and walking. Closely related hunting scene decoration appears on an SVE-marked oval dish in the collection at Dyrham Park (National Trust, cited by Ressing) and on another flower vase in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg (inv. no. 1891-282). The latter also features flower garlands similar to those on the present lot, illustrated by Marion S. Van Aken-Fehmers, ibid., p. 149, cat. no. 3.02. The author notes that the delicately painted flower decoration on both vases may reveal the hand of a talented 'porcelain painter' and that a 'porcelain painter’, known by the name Michiel van Eems, who executed floral decoration among other things, is recorded in Delft and died there in 1684. The inventory drawn up upon his death mentions his painting materials and everything that belonged to Van Eems' 'art of painting'. Van Aken-Fehmers suggests that it is not inconceivable that, over time, Van Eems had gathered a group of pupils around him who were trained in his style and executed floral arrangements on Delft wares in the manner of those on the present lot.

A bowl-shaped flower vase with spouts of related form to the present lot was sold from The Manny Davidson Collection, Paris, 5 November 2025, lot 41.

Related Literature:

H. Ressing, 'Delfts aardewerk in Dyrham Park' in Vormen uit Vuur, 2000, 173, pp. 1-32