Delftware is used in reference either to the tin-glazed earthenware produced by several factories in Delft, Holland, in response to and in emulation of the massive importation to, and subsequent popularity throughout Europe of oriental porcelain begun in 1602 by the Dutch East India Company or to the maiolica/faience styled ware produced in Delft prior to 1602.
Also called ‘Delft’, ‘Dutch ware’, and (not infrequently to distinguish pre-1602 from post-1602 wares) ‘Dutch China‘ (i.e., “Hollands Porcelain”)
Characteristic of delftware pottery are the multiple glazings, and, in particular, the final low-temperature transparent lead glaze giving a brilliant sheen to the otherwise (quasi-inherited/emulated traditions of) maiolica/faience/oriental porcelain-like undercoating.
Other “Delfts” are Black Delft, Delft dore, and English Delft (or, English delftware); and, with reference more generically to delftware made in Britain, there are the Delft-wares of specific factories and cities, such as Bristol, Liverpool, Glasgow, Irish, etc., each of minor variations on the theme.
 A typical Delftware plate |
A Delft plate c1750 |
Delft ointment pot c1700 |
Black Delft and Delft dore, however, were of major variance with the “standard”: the former being black-based rather than white-based, and the latter having gilded edges – both being done in Delft, Holland.
Southwark, England, delftware, as a branch of the English delftware tree, refers to the ware done at Lambeth, 1625-65, and at C. Wilhelm, 1628-45, in Southwark.
Principal centers were in Amsterdam and Haarlem; and principal factories were Drie Klokken (“The Three Bells”), De Roos (“The Rose”), De Paauw (“The Peacock”), and De Grieksche “A” (“The Greek ‘A’ “).
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