Obelisk
This obelisk illustrates that the pottery workshops in Delft produced both useful and luxury wares as well as objects purely intended for display. Clearly belonging to the last category, this obelisk is part of a small group of black glazed Delft earthenware (see also 50.211.34).
The earliest Delft earthenware products were decorated in blue on a white tin glaze in imitation of imported Chinese porcelain. From the mid seventeenth-century on, the use of other colors was being tested including green, blue, and yellow but also red and black inspired by Japanese Imari and Kakiemon porcelain as well as by Japanese lacquer. When by 1690 it had become increasingly difficult for the Dutch East India Company to obtain high quality Japanese lacquerware, black Delft ware with colorful decoration, gained in popularity.
Only a few examples of black Delft pottery survive, on account of the difficulty of producing the black glaze and the unpredictable production methods. Furthermore, black-glazed pottery was only made at a limited number of manufactories. The black-glazed pieces usually display chinoiserie decoration and so-called “Indianische Blumen” (i.e. non-European flowers). The obelisk has floral ornament on its shaft while its base has, in addition, two East Asian landscape scenes which include a man on a small bridge. These compositions may derive from imported porcelain, lacquer, or popular engravings and illustrations from travel books.
A closely related obelisk, possibly the pair to 50.211.35, was sold at Rob Michiels Auctions, in Bruges, Belgium, on October 1, 2016, as lot 462. This second obelisk (current whereabouts unknown) is signed on the base: LVE for Lambertus van Eenhoorn (1651–1721), the owner of the Delft manufactory “De Metaale Pot” (The Metal Pot) from 1691 until 1724. Following Van Eenhoorn’s death in 1721, his widow Margaretha Teckmann continued the manufactory until it was sold in 1724. The LVE mark strongly suggests that the Met’s obelisk was also a product of the “De Metaale Pot” and was most likely created between 1691 and 1724.
Although inspired by imported porcelain and lacquerware in its decoration, the obelisk derives its form from ancient Egyptian civilization when the obelisk was used as a monument to immortalize gods, events, and rulers. In Europe over time, the obelisk became a display piece often made in hard stones, silver, porcelain or other materials to decorate a mantelpiece or dining table.
See Marion van Aken-Fehmers "Hochschãtzing für Schwarz-Schwarzes 'Porzellan' aus Delft, 1700 bis 1740," in Monika Kopplin, ed., Schwartz Porcelain; Die Leidenschaft für Lack und ihre Wirkung auf das europãische Porzellan, (Museum für Lackkunst, Münster; Hirmer Verlag, Berlin 2003), pp. 117-139, no. 61.
The earliest Delft earthenware products were decorated in blue on a white tin glaze in imitation of imported Chinese porcelain. From the mid seventeenth-century on, the use of other colors was being tested including green, blue, and yellow but also red and black inspired by Japanese Imari and Kakiemon porcelain as well as by Japanese lacquer. When by 1690 it had become increasingly difficult for the Dutch East India Company to obtain high quality Japanese lacquerware, black Delft ware with colorful decoration, gained in popularity.
Only a few examples of black Delft pottery survive, on account of the difficulty of producing the black glaze and the unpredictable production methods. Furthermore, black-glazed pottery was only made at a limited number of manufactories. The black-glazed pieces usually display chinoiserie decoration and so-called “Indianische Blumen” (i.e. non-European flowers). The obelisk has floral ornament on its shaft while its base has, in addition, two East Asian landscape scenes which include a man on a small bridge. These compositions may derive from imported porcelain, lacquer, or popular engravings and illustrations from travel books.
A closely related obelisk, possibly the pair to 50.211.35, was sold at Rob Michiels Auctions, in Bruges, Belgium, on October 1, 2016, as lot 462. This second obelisk (current whereabouts unknown) is signed on the base: LVE for Lambertus van Eenhoorn (1651–1721), the owner of the Delft manufactory “De Metaale Pot” (The Metal Pot) from 1691 until 1724. Following Van Eenhoorn’s death in 1721, his widow Margaretha Teckmann continued the manufactory until it was sold in 1724. The LVE mark strongly suggests that the Met’s obelisk was also a product of the “De Metaale Pot” and was most likely created between 1691 and 1724.
Although inspired by imported porcelain and lacquerware in its decoration, the obelisk derives its form from ancient Egyptian civilization when the obelisk was used as a monument to immortalize gods, events, and rulers. In Europe over time, the obelisk became a display piece often made in hard stones, silver, porcelain or other materials to decorate a mantelpiece or dining table.
See Marion van Aken-Fehmers "Hochschãtzing für Schwarz-Schwarzes 'Porzellan' aus Delft, 1700 bis 1740," in Monika Kopplin, ed., Schwartz Porcelain; Die Leidenschaft für Lack und ihre Wirkung auf das europãische Porzellan, (Museum für Lackkunst, Münster; Hirmer Verlag, Berlin 2003), pp. 117-139, no. 61.
Artwork Details
- Title: Obelisk
- Maker: attributed to Lambertus van Eenhoorn (Dutch, 1651–1721)
- Manufactory: De Metaale Pot Factory (Dutch, 1670–1771/75)
- Date: ca. 1700–1725
- Culture: Dutch, Delft
- Medium: Tin-glazed earthenware
- Dimensions: Height: 7 3/8 in. (18.7 cm)
- Classification: Ceramics-Pottery
- Credit Line: Gift of R. Thornton Wilson, in memory of Florence Ellsworth Wilson, 1950
- Object Number: 50.211.35
- Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
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Lambertus van Eenhoorn
De Metaale Pot Factory
ca. 1690
Lambertus van Eenhoorn
De Metaale Pot Factory
ca. 1690
Lambertus van Eenhoorn
De Metaale Pot Factory
ca. 1690
Lambertus van Eenhoorn
De Metaale Pot Factory
ca. 1690
Lambertus van Eenhoorn
De Metaale Pot Factory
ca. 1690
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