Fun Pottering About Delft Porcelain Factory

It is no accident that Dutch Delftware pottery resembles late Ming Dynasty Chinese porcelain. The Dutch pottery industry began in the early 17th Century, after Dutch traders imported the floral-patterned porcelain from China.

In Delft, 32 factories were established, many of them in former breweries. (Delft’s brewing industry died in the early 1600s, when the water from the town’s canals became polluted.)

Dutch potters found it difficult at first to duplicate the fine Chinese porcelain. The Chinese used white clay, containing a high percentage of kaolin, to obtain a translucent quality. The Dutch potters were limited to their native gray-brown, somewhat sandy earthen material.

Windmills a Winner

But after several decades of experimentation, the Dutch potters discovered how to decorate their pieces with the extensive detail used by the Chinese. The technique required that pieces be dipped in a white underglaze before the pattern was painted on. The resulting Dutch pieces were thicker and less translucent than the Chinese porcelain. Their designs soon incorporated windmills and other Dutch motifs, and Delftware became popular in its own right.

The factories flourished until the mid-18th Century, when Meissen, Sevres and Berlin developed porcelain industries that challenged Delft’s dominance of the market. Further competition came when Josiah Wedgwood and other English potters, using English white clay, developed timesaving techniques that didn’t require pieces to be underglazed. Their porcelain was lighter in weight, less porous and more durable.

De Porceleyne Fles (the name means porcelain bottle), founded in 1653, is the only Delft pottery factory still in business. Joost Thooft saved it from bankruptcy in 1876 and he modified production to use imported English white clay. His method is still in use, and his initials are part of the De Porceleyne Fles logo.

Training Apprentices

Today the company employs 160 people, including 85 painters. De Porceleyne Fles runs a four-year apprenticeship program to develop skilled employees for the labor-intensive process.

Workshops are closed to visitors, but the public can watch demonstrations at the factory. Plates are thrown on potters’ wheels. Vases, bowls, pitchers and other rounded pieces are pressed in plaster molds. The pieces are dried and sent for a first firing to produce bisque.

Painters outline the patterns by rubbing a pouch of charcoal over a stencil placed on the bisque. The barely visible matrix of dots (which burn off during the second firing) provide guidelines for freehand application of glaze.

Painters vary the pattern slightly in order to keep their touch fresh. They alternate work on vases, plates and other items for the same reason. At this point the cobalt-blue glaze looks dull, dark and gray. Thickly applied glaze produces a lustrous opaque blue; diluted glaze yields a more transparent hue.

Painting may take several hours or several days, depending upon the complexity of the design. When a piece is completed, the painter initials it and applies the De Porceleyne Fles logo. Each piece is then dipped in white glaze and fired again.

Variety of Patterns

De Porceleyne Fles is best known for its blue-and-white ware, but the factory also produces Pijnacker (a red, blue and gold pattern on a white background, similar to Japanese Imari porcelain), Black Delft (pottery made briefly during the late 15th Century and revived in 1978 in celebration of De Porceleyne Fles’ 375th anniversary) and Polychrome (red, yellow, blue and green pattern on a white background). The same basic shapes are used with all patterns.

De Porceleyne Fles also makes commemorative plates, especially to mark royal birthdays, weddings, anniversaries and other events of national interest. The company’s annual Christmas plates are famous.

The factory (196 Rotterdamsweg in Delft; phone 015-569-214) is open weekdays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sundays from 1 to 6 p.m. Demonstrations are held daily from March to October. The factory’s museum has fabulous antique pieces, including the entire Delftware collection of William III, commemorative plates and bowls, vases, pitchers and plates in all the De Porceleyne Fles patterns.

The factory shop doesn’t sell antique pieces, but it does have the world’s best selection of Delftware. Prices for perfect pieces are comparable to those in other shops, but the factory sells seconds at 30% to 40% off list prices. Stock varies daily.

Here are some sample prices: Blue-and-white clocks cost $280 if perfect; with slight smudges the price drops to $200. A perfect tile costs $25; a second is $19. Pay $250 for a perfect Christmas plate, $185 for a second. A perfect Pijnacker 15-inch plate costs $435, a second $325. And a perfect Polychrome candlestick costs $115; seconds are $85.

Portrait on a Plate

You can order a portrait plate, painted from a photograph. It takes three or four days to make, and costs $1,000 to $1,500.

It takes less than an hour to get to Delft from Amsterdam, and the city is 15 minutes away from The Hague or Rotterdam. Train service is frequent, or drive there on smooth and well-marked highways.

The town of Delft is picturesque, filled with canals and old bridges. If scenes seem familiar, it’s probably because you’ve seen them on Delft plates, or in the paintings of Jan Vermeer.

Markt Square is the center of the old town. At one end stands the 17th-Century Town Hall, at the other the New Church, built in the 14th and 15th centuries (it houses the mausoleum of William of Orange). The cobblestone square is surrounded by centuries-old step-gabled buildings, many housing restaurants and shops.

Many shops stock blue-and-white pottery, but not all of it is the product of De Porceleyne Fles. Many are cheaply made copies, with transfer patterns substituted for handpainting. These products are less expensive, and sometimes pretty, but clearly of inferior quality. When buying pottery, look for the De Porceleyne Fles logo on the bottom of the piece.

Markt Square’s reliable outlets include W. A. Reynders (Markt 45) and De Backer v.d. Hoeck B.V. (Markt 30, and 62-64), which belongs to De Porceleyne Fles and sells some seconds at the discounted prices.

Outlets Elsewhere

If you haven’t time to visit Delft, there are sources for Delftware in other cities. Focker & Meltzer (in Amsterdam at P.C. Hoofstraat 65 and Kalverstraat 176, and in The Hague at Hoogstraat 33) sells De Porceleyne Fles, as well as other porcelains and crystal from around the world. De Porceleyne Fles pieces are also in Amsterdam at the company’s shop (Muntplein 12), in The Hague at Ninaber v. Eyben (1-la Kettingstraat) and in Rotterdam at Jungerhans (3-5 Binnenweg).

Antique Delftware from De Porceleyne Fles as well as potteries no longer in business are found at Salomon Sodel (Rokin 70, in Amsterdam) and other antique shops. Sodel has fine old plates, beer steins and tobacco jars, some made with techniques that long ago faded, along with their manufacturers, into history. Among Sodel’s offerings are a set of five Delft blue-and-white plates, dated 1735, priced at about $12,000. Before buying antiques, check the factory mark and ask for certification.

Most Delftware, antique or newer, is too delicate for daily use. It is somewhat porous and chip easily. Keep Delftware as collector’s pieces, to be used mainly as decoration.

The prices quoted in this article reflect currency exchange rates at the time of writing.