Editing Delftware (section)

== History ==
The earliest [[tin-glazing|tin-glazed]] pottery in the [[Low Countries|Netherlands]] was made in [[Antwerp]] where the Italian potter Guido da Savino settled in 1500,<ref>''La Céramique anversoise de la Renaissance, de Venise à Delft'', Claire Dumortier, Anthèse, Paris, 1997</ref> and in the 16th century Italian [[maiolica]] was the main influence on decorative styles.<ref>Savage, 157</ref>  The manufacture of painted pottery spread from Antwerp to the northern Netherlands, in particular because of the [[sack of Antwerp]] by the Spanish troops in 1576 (the ''[[Spanish Fury]]''). Production developed in [[Middelburg, Zeeland|Middelburg]] and [[Haarlem]] in the 1570s and in [[Amsterdam]] in the 1580s.<ref>Caiger-Smith, Alan, ''Tin-Glaze Pottery in Europe and the Islamic World: The Tradition of 1000 Years in Maiolica, Faience and Delftware'' (Faber and Faber, 1973 {{ISBN|0-571-09349-3}}, p. 127</ref> Much of the finer work was produced in Delft, but simple everyday tin-glazed pottery was made in places such as [[Gouda, South Holland|Gouda]], [[Rotterdam]], [[Haarlem]], [[Amsterdam]] and [[Dordrecht]].<ref>Caiger-Smith, p. 131</ref>
[[File:Willem Jansz. Verstraeten - Scotel met onbekende wapen BK-NM-14179.jpg|thumb|"Armorial Dish" (wapenbord) by [[Willem Jansz. Verstraeten]], c. 1645–1655, Haarlem]] 
The main period of tin-glaze pottery in the Netherlands was 1640–1740. From about 1640 Delft potters began using personal monograms and distinctive factory marks. The [[Guild of St Luke]], to which painters in all media had to belong, admitted ten master potters in the thirty years between 1610 and 1640, and twenty in the nine years 1651 to 1660. In 1654 [[Delft Explosion|a gunpowder explosion in Delft]] destroyed many breweries and as the brewing industry was in decline, they became available to [[pottery]] makers looking for larger premises; some retained the old brewery names, e.g. ''The Double Tankard'', ''The Young Moors' Head'', and ''The Three Bells''.<ref>Caiger-Smith pp. 130–131</ref>

The use of [[marl]], a type of clay rich in calcium compounds, allowed the Dutch potters to refine their technique and to make finer items.  The usual clay body of Delftware was a blend of three clays, one local, one from [[Tournai]] and one from the [[Rhineland]].<ref>Caiger-Smith, p. 130</ref>

From about 1615, the potters began to coat their pots completely in white tin glaze instead of covering only the painting surface and coating the rest with clear [[ceramic glaze]].  They then began to cover the tin-glaze with clear glaze, which gave depth to the fired surface and smoothness to cobalt blues, ultimately creating a good resemblance to porcelain.<ref name="Caiger-Smith, p. 129">Caiger-Smith, p. 129</ref>
[[Image:DelftChina18thCenturyCompanieDesIndes.jpg|thumb|18th century Delftware, the plate at left with a Japanese scene]]
During the [[Dutch Golden Age]], the [[Dutch East India Company]] had a lively trade with the East and imported millions of pieces of [[Chinese export porcelain|Chinese porcelain]] in the early 17th century.<ref>Volker, T. ''Porcelain and the Dutch East India Company'', 1602–1683, Leiden, 1955) p. 22.</ref> The Chinese workmanship and attention to detail impressed many. Only the richest could afford the early imports. Dutch potters did not immediately imitate Chinese porcelain; they began to do so after the death of the [[Wanli Emperor]] in 1620, when the supply to Europe was interrupted.<ref name="Caiger-Smith, p. 129"/> "Potters now saw an opportunity to produce a cheap alternative for Chinese porcelain. After much experimenting they managed to make a thin type of earthenware which was covered with a white tin glaze. Although made of low-fired earthenware, it resembled porcelain amazingly well."<ref>Christiaan Jörg, "Oriental Export Porcelain and Delftware in the Groningen Museum" in ''Ceramics Crossed Overseas: Jingdezhen, Imari and Delft from the collection of the Groningen Museum''. An exhibition catalogue in collaboration with the Groninger Museum, Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Japan Airlines, 1999–2000, p. 10.</ref>

Delftware inspired by Chinese originals persisted from about 1630 to the mid-18th century alongside European patterns. Around 1700 several factories were using enamel colours and gilding over the tin-glaze, requiring a third kiln firing at a lower temperature. Later, after Japanese [[Imari ware]] had become popular in the late 1600s and early 1700s (when it too tried to fill the gap of the Chinese shortage), Delft began making their own 'Imari ware' copying the classic 'flower vase on a terrace surrounded by three panels with cranes and pine design'. Oriental styles in Delftware remained popular into the early 1700s but then declined when Chinese porcelain became available again.<ref>Christiaan Jörg, pp. 10-11.</ref>

Delftware ranged from simple household items – plain white [[earthenware]] with little or no decoration – to fancy artwork. Most of the Delft factories made sets of jars, the ''kast-stel'' set. Pictorial plates were made in abundance, illustrated with religious motifs, native Dutch scenes with [[windmills]] and [[fishing]] [[boat]]s, hunting scenes, landscapes and seascapes. Sets of plates were made with the words and music of songs; dessert was served on them and when the plates were clear the company started singing.<ref>Caiger-Smith, p. 136.</ref> The Delft potters also made tiles in vast numbers (estimated at eight hundred million<ref>Caiger-Smith, p. 137 n. 21</ref>) over a period of two hundred years; many Dutch houses still have tiles that were fixed in the 17th and 18th centuries. Delftware became popular and was widely exported in Europe and even reached China and Japan. Chinese and Japanese potters made porcelain versions of Delftware for export to Europe.

Some regard Delftware from about 1750 onwards as artistically inferior. Caiger-Smith says that most of the later wares "were painted with clever, ephemeral decoration. Little trace of feeling or originality remained to be lamented when, at the end of the eighteenth century, the Delftware potteries began to go out of business."<ref>Caiger-Smith, p. 140</ref> By this time Delftware potters had lost their market to British porcelain and the new white earthenware. One or two remain: the [[Royal Tichelaar Makkum|Tichelaar]]<ref>[http://www.tichelaar.nl tichelaar.nl]</ref> factory in [[Makkum, Wûnseradiel|Makkum]], [[Friesland]], founded in 1594 and [[De Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles]] ("The Royal Porcelain Bottle") founded in 1653.

Today, Delfts Blauw (Delft Blue) is the brand name hand painted on the bottom of ceramic pieces identifying them as authentic and collectible. Although most Delft Blue borrows from the tin-glaze tradition, it is nearly all decorated in underglaze blue on a white clay body and very little uses tin glaze, a more expensive product. The [[Royal Tichelaar Makkum|Koninklijke Tichelaar Makkum]] factory in [[Makkum, Wûnseradiel|Makkum]], [[Friesland]], continues the production of tin-glazed earthenware.<ref>Klei/Glas/Keram. 13, No.4, 1992. Pg.103-106</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tichelaar.nl |title=Koninklijke Tichelaar Makkum |publisher=Tichelaar.nl |access-date=2012-02-22}}</ref>

Delft Blue pottery formed the basis of one of [[British Airways]]' [[British Airways ethnic liveries|ethnic tailfins]]. The design, Delftblue Daybreak, was applied to 17 aircraft.