A large tin-glazed earthenware plate painted in cobalt blue, iron red, yellow, green and manganese. In the centre a flowering shrub and a branch of yellow blossom rise from a yellow rock, and the border is ringed with stylised tulips and sprigs. The back is glazed plain white, with a low foot ring pierced by a small hole for hanging.
Delft potters spent the 1600s copying Chinese blue-and-white porcelain. By the 18th century they had added a full palette, and red was the hardest colour to fire, so plates with it were the more expensive ones. The rock-and-flowering-shrub design is borrowed from Chinese famille rose porcelain, translated by a Dutch hand.
Condition: Flaking to the rim, as usual for tin-glazed earthenware. A chip to the foot rim beside the hanging hole.
