JVV 0424
Delft, 1713-1735
Painter: Adriaan van Rijsselbergh
Mark: AR
The deep dish is painted in polychrome in the so-called cashmere palette of blue, green and red. The centre depicts a decor of plants and flowers issuing from rocks. Two birds perch on a branch, a third flies. The depiction is framed in a band of flowers and leaves. A floral ornamental decor is painted on the flange.
Dimensions: diameter 45,5 cm / 17.91 in., height 7,8 cm / 3.07 in.
Explanatory note
The cashmere decor was developed in Delft around 1700 and enjoyed great popularity for a short period, till about 1730. The colour palette is blue, green and red, sometimes with additional colours black, purple or yellow. The decorations are mainly flower vases and floral motifs derived from Chinese porcelain. These were often combined with ornaments developed in France, such as lambrequins and point work (palmette-shaped panels or cartouches). The cashmere decor was applied to multiple Delftware items such as garnitures, ewers, vases, dishes, tea pots and canisters, often in a ribbed version.
In 1713 Adriaan or Ary van Rijsselbergh (1689?-1735), together with three others, was employed as a gold painter by the widow Johanna Kocx - Van der Heul, owner of The Greek A pottery in Delft (Eliëns, p. 69). A gold painter was a specialist in painting petit feu decors in the Japanese Imari and Kakiemon styles. She sold the pottery in 1722 to Jacob van der Kool. It is not known whether Van Rijsselbergh continued to work for the pottery thereafter.
The cashmere decor on this dish places the piece in the first decades of the eighteenth century and can thus be attributed to Adriaan van Rijsselbergh. Several pieces are known that are painted in grand feu colours and bear the AR monogram. Some of these objects can be dated to the second half of the eighteenth century and therefore cannot have been painted by Van Rijsselbergh, who died in 1735. The later AR mark has not yet been attributed to a Delftware painter.
Literature
T.M. Eliëns (ed.), Delfts aardewerk. Geschiedenis van een nationaal product, Zwolle/The Hague 1999
C. Lahaussois (ed.), Delfts aardewerk, Amsterdam 2008
