Image 1 of 15
Image 2 of 15
Image 3 of 15
Image 4 of 15
Image 5 of 15
Image 6 of 15
Image 7 of 15
Image 8 of 15
Image 9 of 15
Image 10 of 15
Image 11 of 15
Image 12 of 15
Image 13 of 15
Image 14 of 15
Image 15 of 15
Merel’s vase is painted entirely by hand in cobalt on a white ground: a bird in flight, wings spread, among dense flowering branches. The subject descends from the Chinese export porcelain that Dutch potters began interpreting in the seventeenth century, the source of both Delft blue and European chinoiserie. The brushwork moves from fine outline to broad washes of blue, which gives the flowers depth. Scalloped floral borders frame the scene at the shoulder and foot.
The form is a classical baluster with a flared neck and a spreading foot, large enough for a console or a substantial side table. The decoration runs around the full circumference. The underside carries a hand-painted mark in blue: the model number 874, the factory monogram, “Delft Blauw Handpainted Made in Holland,” and the painter’s initials, V.E.
Pink with blue and white is a classic pairing in European interiors, and here it takes the place of the expected white shade. The braid is from Houlès, the Paris passementerie house, and the cord is wrapped to match.
About Velsen
Velsen began in 1920 as Potterie Kennemerland, in the town of Velsen in North Holland, and took the name Kunstaardewerkfabriek Velsen in 1936. In 1942 the German occupiers requisitioned the factory; it was moved into a bulb barn in Sassenheim and made no ceramics until the war ended. After 1945 it produced hand-painted Delft blue in quantity, from vases to tiles and tile panels, and worked on into the early 2000s.
