JVV 0470
Makkum, 1784-1800
Kingma pottery
painter: Adam Sijbel
The diamond-shaped plaques have a raised, scalloped rim and are each painted with a coastal landscape with ships. In the foreground, ships sails towards open water: a barge with sloop and a two-master, respectively. On the shore, a village is visible with houses, towers and a church. Also on the waterfront is a stork's nest on a tall pole. Several ships sail in the background. The inner rim is decorated with S-shaped ornaments, the outer rim is marbled.
Dimensions: length 34 cm / 13.38 in., width 29 cm / 11.41 in.
Similar examples
The former collection of Minze van den Akker included a blue and white oval plaque by Adam Sijbel showing a ship off the coast (Van den Akker, p. 257).
Explanatory note
Adam Sijbel was the first painter of the Kingma pottery and executed the most important plates, plaques and other pieces. He also painted tile pictures as well as the more expensive tiles like fine landscapes and biblical tiles with scriptural references. His style of painting can be recognized by the loose brushwork and in the rendering of the clouds, the water, the S-shaped ornaments in the inner border and the background painted in light tones. In Adam Sijbel's extensive and varied oeuvre, only one other plaque depicting a ship is known. He also painted ships on tile pictures such as the twelve examples that can still be seen in the taproom of Hotel De Prins in Makkum.
Before Sijbel moved to Makkum in 1784, when the Kingma family pottery was established, he was working for about twenty years in the Old Prince tile factory in the Anjeliersstraat in Amsterdam. The ten-year contract he signed to work in the pottery in Makkum has been preserved (Pluis, Ten Hoeve, Tichelaar, p. 209, supplement I).
Literature
M. van den Akker, Fries aardewerk. Majolica - faience - kerfsnee. Harlinger aardewerk museum. Collectie Minze van den Akker, Harlingen 2007
J. Pluis, S. ten Hoeve, P.J. Tichelaar, Fries Aardewerk. Deel I. Kingma Makkum, Leiden 2000
