Call it cobalt blue trending, or attribute it to timeless style that endures–all the way from the 1600’s to 2016. The inky blue found in Delftware is making a comeback not just in collectible pottery, but also in fabrics and other home surfaces such as wallpaper. Or perhaps it never really went out of style.
It seems that the blue-on-white pottery known as delft is still a favorite of decorators and collectors, even though it originally became a hit several centuries ago.
While the highly valuable antique pieces may be out of the price range of everyday collectors, there are plenty of pieces to be had at bargain prices in thrift stores, on ebay, or at garage sales.
With collecting, the search is half of the fun.
The popular pottery, whose glaze gives it a distinct shiny brilliance, has a long history that might make recent enthusiasts appreciate it all the more.
Originating in Delft, Netherlands, in the 1600s, delftware—also known as delft pottery, delft blue or blue delft—is a type of tin-glazed earthenware.
Authentic delft pottery is painted in entirety only by hand. The addition of the word "entirety" is important because some potteries might mark the bottom of a piece "hand painted" when only a few minor parts of the decoration are painted by hand.
The most famous delft coloring is blue painted on white, which has become an iconic brand of the Netherlands (also popularly referred to as Holland). Many other colors are also used, but since delftware was originally made to compete locally with the finer imported Chinese Ming porcelain, the blue on white was the most popular and continues to be the most well-known delft, according to the Royal Delft website (www.royaldelft.com).
In decorating their imitation pieces at first, the Delft potters used Chinese-themed artwork, but over time, the pottery factories in Delft began to depict local motifs and scenes.
In addition to becoming more competitive in the ceramics business, the Delft potters were providing a more affordable product for locals who lived in Delft.
But when the finer clay needed to make porcelain was discovered in Europe, once again the makers of the delft tin-glazed pottery began to have a difficult time competing, according to Royal Delft. Delft is a softer earthenware that chips easily, giving porcelain, which is sturdier, the edge.
At its high point as one of the major pottery centers of Europe, Delft had more than 30 potters. Today, there are only two original delftware producers operating in Delft: Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles (Royal Delft Factory) and De Delftse Pauw, both of which began in the 17th century.
While the history of delft pottery in the Netherlands begins in the 1600s, tin-glazed pottery was being made long before that in Italy and Spain.
Sometimes, informally, antiquers and collectors will refer to any blue-on-white decorated pottery as delft even though there are several other versions of the same type of pottery.
In Italy, imported tin-glazed pottery from Spain was called majolica or maiolica when the Italians mistakenly thought it was made on the island of Majorca, the trade headquarters where the imports between Spain and Italy passed, according to Old and Sold Antiques Auction and Marketplace.
The French used the name faience for the Italian-made tin-glazed pottery imported from Faenza, Italy. An exception is the tin-glazed pottery made in Quimper, France, since 1690. It is called quimper after the town. The same pottery in the United States is called quimperware. In England, they also use the term delft for the tin-glazed earthenware they produce, probably because Dutch potters taught them the craft.
Today, in the United States, the term used for tin-glazed earthenware is usually majolica as a general term, but there are those who might use faience as the catchall term for tin-glazed earthenware.
The pottery made in Delft can also be called many things, such as delft blue, delftware, delfts or delfts blauw (because that is the translation in Dutch).
Because this type of tin-glazed soft pottery was made in many countries, there are names that began in those countries but now are used all over. It depends on where you live in the world, and with the migration of people all over the globe, terms for this ancient form of pottery have spread and mixed.
Delft, majolica, faience and quimperware all refer to a type of soft pottery with a tin glaze. Each country has put its own touch on the making of this popular earthenware, but they are all basically the same.
The authentic and original delftware came from the Netherlands, of course, but its reach through history and geography extends around the world and throughout the U.S., including Pennsylvania.
Majolica, basically the same type of pottery as delftware, also spread to other countries, including the United States.
One of the most well-known majolica potteries in the U.S. was in Phoenixville, PA, just northwest of King of Prussia, in Chester County. Griffin, Smith & Hill Co. made majolica in the late 1800s, calling its product Etruscan Majolica.
Some of the most pleasing patterns are a design of coral weed and seashells and designs of leaves and ferns on tableware. Victorian majolica can be marked with an impressed monogram, “G.S.H.,” sometimes circled with a band containing the words "Etruscan Majolica."
The majolica from the Phoenixville pottery was used as a premium by the grocery chain A&P, according to the Historical Society of the Phoenixville Area, where you can see 300 pieces of majolica made at the Griffin, Smith & Hill Co. from 1879 to 1902.
Some people blame the majolica giveaways by A&P for saturating the market and giving majolica a cheap image, thus leading to the decline of the majolica business for GS&H.
While the Griffin, Smith & Hill pottery is no longer in Phoenixville, there is a restaurant named Majolica at 258 Bridge St. (www.majolicarestaurant.com), with a chef who was voted the best in Chester County. From dinnerware to dinner, it is still called majolica.