Pair of Delft Chinoiserie Pottery Vases
£2,600
decorated in ‘cashmere’ palette, the domed lids with finials in the form of seated beasts, the baluster-shaped bodies decorated with shaped reserves painted in Chinese style with scenes of water-birds with plants and separate reserves of pendant objects, mainly in shades of iron-red, green and blue, all on a washed blue ground; one vase painted with the elided LVE mark and X for Lambertus van Eenhoorn of ‘De Metaale Pot’ factory, 1691-1724
Provenance: Baron of Pittenweem (according to labels affixed under the vases), presumably either William Ronald Crawford Miller, 18th Lord of Pittenweem (title created 1609), who died in 2011, or perhaps more likely, his successor, Claes Zangenberg who succeeded as 18th Lord of Pittenweem
Lambertus van Eenhorn was the son of Wouter van Eenhorn and brother to Samuel van Eenhoorn, successive owners of the very successful ‘Grieksche A’ Delft pottery factory. Initially eschewing his useful connections in the world of pottery, he travelled extensively as a young man – Ireland, Scotland, the West Indies, Leipzig, Vienna and Smyrna all helping to satisfy his wanderlust. In 1691, though, he purchased the ‘De Metaale Pot’ factory, so-called as the building had originally been used as a brewery, after the death of its owner, Lambertus Cleffius, and proceeded to produce some of the finest Delft pottery of the period, his innovative designs borrowing heavily from the Wucai and other oriental porcelain arriving in shiploads from China and Japan – he played a pivotal rôle in introducing new colours and decorative schemes. Examples from his output can be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
