JVV 0528
Delft, 1759-1771
The Fortune pottery
Mark: WVDB, period of widow Elling-Van den Briel (1759-1771)
The shaving bowl is essentially oval in shape with a cantilevered, profiled rim. It is painted in blue on a light blue-coloured tin-glaze. In the centre, a flute-playing putto sitting on a fountain is painted in a cartouche. On the outside of the cartouche are floral and foliate branches. The flange is painted with a floral ornamental decor.
Dimensions: length 26 cm / 10.23 in., width 28.7 cm / 11.29 in., height 7.5 cm / 2.95 in.
Explanatory note
The earliest shaving bowls were made in the second half of the seventeenth century, but the main production took place in the eighteenth century, in particular in the second and third quarter. A wide range of models are known, either undecorated or painted in blue or polychrome with different motifs. Besides biblical themes, landscapes, floral motifs, flower pots or ornamentation, shaving bowls were also painted with barber’s tools and inscriptions.
