A Dutch Delft flower pot or jardinière, circa 1680-1720

Footnotes

A large and rare Dutch Delft garden urn made for King William III and dateable to 1694-1700 was sold in these rooms (26 November, lot 115). It was puchased by the Ducth Royal Palace 'Het Loo'. It is very likely that this urn too, would have been intended for garden use, to be placed outside in summer and brought into the Orangerie in winter.

These garden urns are discussed and illustrated by A.M.L.E. Erkelens 'Delffs Porcelijn' van koningin Mary II. English Mary initially set up house with her husband in the Dutch Republic and Mary developed a deep love for her adopted country and its products. Their Royal Residence of Het Loo in Holland was entirely built by William and Mary. Mary's apartments reflected her taste for flower decorations and ceramics. An inventory was made of its contents in 1713. The interiors were decorated by Daniel Marot (1661-1752) who had come to the Netherlands in 1686 as a Huguenot, bringing with him a distinctly French taste. The written inventories and also the excavated shards found at both Het Loo and Hampton Court, the Royal Residence of the couple from 1689, show how deep the taste for Dutch Delftware influenced the interior decoration at Het Loo and Hampton Court. A number of Delft shards were recently excavated at Het Loo. They were found in the Queen's gardens, in the lower garden and at the front of the palace opposite the wing, where in the 17th century the Orangery was located. The places, where the shards were found, are a strong indication of their use as garden urns for exotic plants which had to be brought inside in the winter on account of the climate. These plants formed a separate and important part of the gardens. According to the 1713 inventory of Het Loo, all 167 plants and trees were kept in backen or in containers.

One of the most important Dutch Delft workshops was that of the Griekse A. It was founded in 1658 by Wouter van Eenhoorn, and passed onto his son Samuel on the occasion of his marriage in 1678. Samuel van Eenhoorn died in 1686 and his widow sold the factory on his death to his brother-in-law Adriaen Kocks, who died in 1701. Various of the above named large urns and shards are marked AK. There are similar vases in the Swedish Royal Collection marked AK and in Chatsworth House there is a garden urn marked AK bearing the arms of William Cavedish.

There has long been a discussion, whether the idea of faience garden urns originates in France or England, and it is certain that with the arrival of Daniel Marot at the Dutch Court the influence of the French formal interior and gardens is brought to a flourish. A recent publication by Camille Leprince, La faience baroque française et es jardins de Le Nôtre addresses this issue in detail (p. 88-95). Le Prince also shows that the Dutch were by no means the only ones producing these large-scale ornamental garden urns, namely the Nevers faience production shows a large amount of urns made with a similar purpose for the French court.