A blue and white chinoiserie bowl
JVV 0548
Delft, circa 1760
The Porcelain Axe pottery
Mark: an axe
The rectangular bowl has a contoured, flat rim and is painted in blue with a chinoiserie decor in a panelled border. In the centre, a peacock stands on a rocky ground, surrounded by vegetation. At lower right, the rock borders water. The panelled border consists of six wide and six narrow panels. The wide panels are filled with two types of decors: fruits with leaves and a double-gourd vase with ribbons and tassels. The narrow panels are decorated with a diamond-shaped element, bordered at the top and bottom by scales and trellis-work. On the back, a lozenge with ribbons is painted on each side.
Dimensions: length 31,5 cm, width 25,5 cm, height 7,5 cm
Explanatory note
The chinoiserie decor on this bowl is an eighteenth-century interpretation of the Chinese Kraak porcelain that was massively imported by the Dutch East India Company in the first half of the seventeenth century. Kraak porcelain was a great source of inspiration for the Delft potters and was widely imitated, both with exact copies and more free interpretations. This decor remained popular in the Republic for more than a century and was therefore manufactured for much of the eighteenth century.
