JVV 0455
Delft, 1725-1750
The blue and white colander stands on three legs and has two round handles. Painted on the front are one large and twenty small fish, presumably bream. The back features an exuberant floral design, framed within a circle. Stripes are painted on the handles.
Dimensions: diameter 34 cm/13.38 in., from handle to handle 42 cm/16.53 in., height 5,7 cm/2.24 in.
Provenance: Axel Vervoordt, Antwerp, Belgium
Similar examples
A colander with a decor of fifteen fish is in the collection of Historic Deerfield in Massachusetts in the United States (inv.no. HD 60.222). A deep bowl with twenty fish is in Museum Prinsenhof in Delft (inv.no. LM 2164). A colander with four large fish and two leafy branches is pictured in Klijn (p. 54). There are also colanders with a decor of a ray or plaice surrounded by three fish, as depicted in Van Geenen (p.291, no. 26.29). In the collection of the Amsterdam Museum is a fish colander with the decor of a single, large painted plaice (inv.no. KA 872).
Explanatory note
Colanders in faience are based on specimens in lead-glazed earthenware that occur as early as the first half of the seventeenth century. Unpainted white colanders will have been made in the seventeenth century, but the blue-painted colanders all date from the eighteenth century. Miniature colanders are also known, these were intended as doll’s ware.
Literature
L.-P. van Geenen, Delfts aardewerk. Merken en fabrieken. Dutch Delfware, Marks and factories, Fayence de Delft, marques et usines, Hoorn 2017
E.M.Ch.F. Klijn, Onbekend tinglazuuraardewerk. de collectie van het Nederlands Openluchtmuseum, Arnhem 2003
