Saturday, August 19, 2017

Royal Delft, De Porceleyne Fles



City of the famous cobalt blue ceramic ware of Delft is by a train trip south east from Amsterdam. It's the birthplace of Vermeer with lots of cute shops and intriguing restaurants and cafes.

Royal Delft is the only remaining Delft ware manufacturer form the 17th century, still producing their products entirely by hand, and hand painted too. To become a Delft master painter it would take 10 years, basic training for a year, four to five years to master all the decoration techniques.


The Delft blue motifs have taken influences form the Chinese porcelain ware from Ming and Kang Hsi Dynasties, whilst typical Dutch landscapes start to appear from the beginning of the 17th century.

The factory also produces contemporary designs, designed by Dutch designers in close collaboration with the master painters.

The small museum has a collection of King Willem III form 1887 and a selection of unique modern celebratory and commemorative ware, factory gaining the royal or Koninklijke prefix quite late, in 1920's. The factory building has beautiful ceramic tile and pilar architecture anno 1655.

During the weekends the factory showcases only the master painting of the Delft Blue, but they invite their visitors into their factory and the kiln room, nevertheless.

Apart form the Delft blue ceramic ware, the museum exhibits red, blue, and gold earthenware called Pijnacker, the Dutch interpretation of Japanese Imari porcelain from the 17th century.