Dutch Delftware brown-glazed teapot and cover

Dutch Delftware with an olive brown ground, and almost always with a yellow decoration, is mentioned in the same breath as the famous black Dutch Delftware.

While collecting Chinese lacquerware became all the rage, Japanese lacquerware was even more sought after. Brown and black colors were used in Delftware in order to emulate the appearance of this extremely desirable lacquerware. The process was, technically speaking, very difficult. This could lead to considerable differences in quality, and therefore the production of this intriguing material was never carried out on a large scale.

It is highly likely that items such as this teapot were never produced for everyday use, but were made to excite the admiration of lovers of these types of rarities.

Several teapots have survived that bear the signature of Lieven van Dalen, one of which is in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and another in the Art & History Museum in Brussels.

Provenance: M. Glibert, Antwerpen