JVV 0127
Delft, circa 1730
The oval brush back is painted with a polychrome chinoiserie decor. A pagoda-shaped garden pavilion stands on a rocky ground amidst flowering plants. A Chinaman in the pavilion looks at a bird on a leafy branch. Two insects fly in the air. The border is decorated with four cartouches, each containing a leafy branch alternated with two types of trellis diaper between two blue lines.
Dimensions: length 14,6 cm / 5.74 in., width 9,3 cm / 3.66 in.
Provenance: Aronson Antiquairs, 2005
Similar Examples
Two polychrome brush backs decorated with birds on a branch are in the Lavino collection (p. 7, upper right), as well as a blue and white chinoiserie example (p. 83). A polychrome brush back with an oriental lady in a gardenlike landscape is in the collection of the Arnhem museum (inventory number AB 8727).
Explanatory note
The back of a brush is flat and pierced with dozens of holes, which would be filled with bundles of hair. With most of the surviving brush backs the bundles of hair have disappeared in the course of time. Costly silver brush backs served as an example for Delftware brush backs which were used in many well-off households.
Literature
D. and R. Aronson, Dutch delftware, Amsterdam 2005
M. Lavino, The Lavino collection, Antwerp n.d.
