Pair of tulip vases

Pair of tulip vases

Origin: Delft

Date: 1701-1720

Marked: PAK, for Pieter Adriaen Kocks, factory ‘De Grieksche A’

Dimensions: 29 cm x 33 cm x 9.3 cm

An object that was specially developed in Delft for the display of flowers during the period of William and Mary is the fan-shaped flat vase. This model appears to have evolved by combining four separate narrow vases, and adding a fifth spout in the center.

At least two such vases were part of the collection of Queen Mary, as is known from the discovery of the fragments of ‘twee platte bloemflesjes’ (‘two flat flower vases’) in her ‘keldertje’ at Het Loo.

The shape of these vases is similar to the shape of Turkish vases known as sükûfedans, which were especially intended for tulips. The widened spouts can also be found in the navette, a gondola-shaped vase with three spouts that was developed in the French Nevers. There were regular contacts between  the ‘Grieksche A’ factory, where these vases were made, and Nevers, which also produced tin-glazed earthenware. It is possible that the Nevers models would have been used as a source of inspiration in the ‘Grieksche A’ and other Delft factories.

Literature

-Eveline Schlumberger, ‘Eloge de la Tulipière’ in: Connaissance des Arts, december 1960, nr. 106, p. 153-159.

-Kristin Duysters, ‘Voor pronk en gebruik,’ in Koninklijk Blauw, tent. cat. The Hague Kunstmuseum, 2020, p. 68.