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In our window

Currently in our window at The Nieuwe Spiegelstraat 39 in Amsterdam:

Pair of Blue and White Four-Tier Pyramidal Flower Vases

Delft, circa 1695-1705

Marked LVE in blue for Lambertus vanEenhoorn, the owner of De Metale Pot (The Metal Pot) Factory from 1691 until 1721 or his widow Margaretha Teckmann from 1721 to 1724

Each composed of four sections with a cylindrical nozzle issuing from a lion’s mask on each corner, theupper section with a compressed spherical opening atthe top painted with four cherubs’ heads and the flaring tier below painted on each side with a ruyi-head device beneath either a shell or a winged cherub’s head, the inward-sloping lower edge with a blue-ground floral border above a patterned band repeated with variations on each of the three tiers below; the second tier painted on each side with a winged cherub’s head above eithera ruyi-head device or a half-length cherub; the third tier painted on each side with a winged cherub’s head above a half-length cherub; and the bottom tier painted on each side with a cherub seated and playing a drum, the lower edge with a border of leaf-patterned triangular panels interrupted on each side with a molded bust between the four scroll feet rising from painted ruyi devices onthe corners of the upper edge of the pedestal below, its square sides each painted with an allegorical figure ofone of ‘The Four Seasons’: ‘Spring’ as Flora holding a cornucopia and standing amidst flowers, ‘Summer’ as Ceres holding a cornucopia, wheat and a sickle, and reclining amidst fruit, ‘Autumn’ as Bacchus holding agoblet and seated against a barrel amidst grapes, and ‘Winter’ as Neptune holding a trident and a dish of smoking coals and standing amidst bundles of faggots and an overturned basket of coals, each flanked by satyrsholding cornucopias on the corners between ogee-molded borders of demiflowerheads, petals and flowering vines, the whole supported on four bulbous square feet.

Height: 54.3 cm. (21 3/8 in.)

Provenance:Most probably Sir William Jolliffe (1660-1749) and thence by descent;

Aronson Antiquairs Amsterdam, 1998;

A distinghuished Manhattan collector; 2008

Literature:Van Aken-Fehmers 2007, p. 182, fig. 1

Note:

According to Van Aken-Fehmers 2007, pp. 14-16, “of the overthirty Delft potteries in operation around 1700, the marks show that at least five produced vases with spouts.” Among them, factories such as “De Grieksche A...had been producing suchvases since as early as around 1680, although the earlier oneswere generally more modest in size than those [extraordinarily grand examples] made for the English court” of King WilliamIII and Queen Mary. “Where quantity is concerned, DeGrieksche A and De Metale Pot [factories] top the list. Overa period of sixty years from around 1680 to 1740, they sold amultitude of different types of vases with spouts and holes,” thetiered pyramidal vases in particular “growing ever taller andmore complex in shape” over the years.

Elements of these vases may owe their inspiration to the popularand influential ornamental prints of Daniel Marot (1661-1752), such as those from Oeuvres du Sr. D. Marot, architecte de GuilaumeIII, Roy Grande Bretagne..., The Hague, 1703, illustrated by Van Aken-Fehmers, op. cit., p. 130, fig. 1, which show both freestanding busts similar to those modeled on the tops ofthe pedestals of the present vases, and also figures wieldingdrumsticks.

Similar examples:

A similar pair marked for Lambertus van Eenhoorn, butwith nine tiers and an obelisk finial, in the collection of theRijksmuseum, Amsterdam, is illustrated in Van Dam 2004, p.100, ill. 54. Another pyramidal vase marked for De Metale PotFactory, but with seven tiers, and with molded busts betweenclaw feet instead of scrolls, is illustrated by Van Aken-Fehmers,2007, p. 183, no. 5.06.

A similar square base and attached first segment, marked witha star and WB for Dirck Witsenburgh at De Witte Starre from1691 to 1705, is illustrated in Van Aken-Fehmers 2007, p. 15,ill. 4, and was sold at Christie’s in Amsterdam on May 15, 2002,lot 399. One side of the base is decorated with the arms of the Creagh family of Ireland, and another side with the monogramWM for William and Mary, indicating this example was mostlikely a royal gift. Another pair of this type, also marked for De Witte Starre Factory, in a private collection, has seven tiers (although two are now missing).