This charger is a rare find from the early 18th century. Dating to circa 1710, it survives from an early period of Dutch blue and white Delft and is distinguished by an unusual naïve figural subject and a loosely painted concentric semicircle border, a combination seldom encountered in Dutch Delft.
A particularly close comparison is a Dutch faience dish in the Amsterdam Pipe Museum, made in Harlingen, Friesland, and dated 1680–1720. Like this charger, the museum dish centers on a naïvely painted figure and uses repeated arched motifs around the border. At 11.81 inches in diameter, it is also remarkably close in size.
A small seated figure occupies the center between a flowering branch and a striped flowerpot filled with large leaves and flowers. The figure and plants are painted with a direct, almost folk-art quality that gives the scene unusual personality and charm.
Around the border, repeated groups of loosely painted concentric semicircles continue the same direct, naïve character seen in the figure and plants. The clear cobalt blue is handled freely throughout, giving the entire charger an unusually spontaneous, folk-art quality.
The reverse is covered with a pale tin glaze, with small areas revealing the buff earthenware body beneath, consistent with traditional Dutch tin-glazed faience.
Dimensions: 11.25″ diameter
Condition: Goodwith some invisible restoration. There are scattered firing irregularities in the cobalt decoration, characteristic of the original manufacture.
Origin: The Netherlands
Date: Circa 1710
Material: Tin-glazed earthenware
Decoration: Hand painted in cobalt blue
Price: $300