Our antique ceramics expert, Leonne van Bakel, recently paid a visit to collector and Catawiki seller Léon-Paul van Geenen to discuss Dutch Delftware. Léon-Paul van Geenen tells about the origin of his passion for Delfts pottery and about our current Delfts pottery auction, in which Léon-Paul is selling some of his collection. Keep reading to find out more about the history behind the beautiful blue and discover how you could own a piece of his Delftware collection for yourself.
The Beginning of His Passion
Léon-Paul's passion for Delftware started during the seventies and eighties, when the city of Delft was renovated. During the renovations many shards of Delftware were discovered. Léon-Paul tells us how his collection started: ''As a little boy of 12, I was fascinated by those shards. My favourite colour was blue. Sometimes I used my pocket money to buy pieces of pottery from the diggers." Although the diggers sold a lot of pottery, it was sometimes very hard for Léon-Paul to get pieces of Delftware. “One time I had saved up 100 guilders, which was a lot of money for me as a child, to buy three cream jars from diggers, but they didn’t let me.''
Most of the time diggers sold pottery in large quantities; Léon-Paul bought about ten pieces in one buy, and kept just two or three things for himself. He sold the rest. According to Léon-Paul, the trick was to sell the pottery as expensive as possible, making the piece you chose to keep for yourself as cheap as possible. In doing, so Léon-Paul came into the market.
Archaeological findings
When Léon-Paul started as an antiques dealer it was very logical to start dealing in Delft pottery, as he was born in Delft. When he started trading, he maintained his passion for archaeological finds. “Archaeological finds are still my favourite, I'd rather see a simple, but unique plate found in ten pieces, than a completely renovated elaborate tulip pyramid. Léon-Paul tells us that he never minds broken or renovated pieces, but highly renovated pieces are not his cup of tea.
Most of the time highly restored pieces lose a piece of their soul. A fraction is unique.
Tobacco Jar from Eindhoven
A special Delft Earthenware auction will start on the 29th of September at Catawiki where Léon-Paul will also auction some pieces from his collection. One particular piece in the auction is this tobacco jar with the text 'Eindhover'. “These sort of big tobacco jars used to stand in tobacco stores.” VOC cargo was very popular, tobacco was a special luxury that came from the New World to Europe. At some point tobacco was also produced in the Netherlands and Belgium. There are tobacco jars known from Dunkirk and Wervik. The name ‘Eindhoven’ on the tobacco jar means that tobacco from Eindhoven was stored in this jar. Léon-Paul tells us that he has never seen 'Eindhover' on a jar before this one. Therefore this jar is very rare and unique for a collector.
Léon-Paul searches Catawiki for new pieces to add to his collection. He tells us: “The antique sector has changed a lot over the past few years thanks to the internet. Previously you had to search for exciting pieces in antique stores and traditional auction houses. Nowadays you can find everything on the internet; everything is a lot more transparent than before."
With new auctions starting every Friday, Léon-Paul knows that the selection is always changing. 'It's worth keeping an eye on the auction every week, you never know when you might find that special piece. I am still waiting for the day when I find a nice early piece of black Delftware or a Frytom plaque. Well, you can always hope.'
Chinese Inspired Dutch Design
From the early 17th century so called 'majolica' was made in Delft. 'Majolica' is decorated pottery that is covered with a layer of tin glaze on the front side and lead glaze on the backside. Because of the popularity of the exotic blue porcelain from China, Europe tried to produce a look-alike product. Majolica plates were stacked in the kiln and divided by triangular prongs which leave three typical firing marks on the front of the plate.
During the 17th century the technique was refined in Delft resulting in a product that had a thinner shard and was completely covered in tin glaze: the so-called faience. Faience is baked in special tubes in which the pieces rest on pins; these pins don’t leave marks on the front, only three thin dashes on the bottom. To live up to the taste of that time, a great deal of Delft pottery was decorated in blue. However, some of the pottery was made in a colourful shades, or even only white glazed. Delft faience become so famous that its name became synonymous with the product; Delftware.
At the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, most potters in Delft went bankrupt because of the difficult economic period and the concurrence with English creamware. Only one factory remained: ‘De Porceleyne Fles’. However, they stopped making faience. In the late 19th century 'De Porceyne Fles' reopened and started producing pottery again in the style of antique Delftware.
The term ‘Delft Blue’ is often used in the 20th century to indicate blue decorated pieces often with a typical dutch scenery. There is even porcelain from Maastricht and Germany that is been dubbed as ‘Delft Blue’. When we are talking about tin glazed pottery from Delft, we usually use the term 'Delftware', because it doesn’t need to be blue.
Do you also collect Dutch Delftware like Léon-Paul van Geenen and are you searching for special items to complete your collection? Then take a look in our special Delft Earthenware auction. Don't miss your chance to place your bids; the auction closes on the 8th of October! We offer many other weekly Antiques and Ceramics auctions as well and if you have some amazing pottery, antiques or other exceptional items that you would like to sell, register here as a seller and start offering up your items for auction.