Polychrome Delft Earthenware Wall Plate Decorated With A Basket Of Flowers And A Bird, Circa 1750

Polychrome Delft earthenware wall plate decorated with a basket of flowers and a bird, circa 1750

18th-century Delftware wall plate, with tin-glaze and polychrome decoration in blue, green, yellow, iron red, and manganese. Rhomboid in shape, it features a raised border forming an integrated frame and two hanging holes at the top.

The center depicts an exotic bird perched among flowering branches rising from a rectangular basket. The flowers and foliage are set within a scalloped cartouche, outlined by yellow and green scrolls. Large stylized flowers dot the checkered blue background, while the outer border is adorned with continuous scrollwork in blue, yellow, and iron red.

The combination of an exotic bird, abundant flowers, and geometric motifs attests to the enduring influence of Chinese and Japanese porcelain on Delftware in the mid-18th century. Delft painters combined these Asian motifs with cartouches, scrollwork, and borders in the European tradition to create new compositions.

These plates were designed to be displayed. In inventories of the time, they were sometimes referred to as “porceleine schilderijen,” or “porcelain paintings,” emphasizing their role as ceramic counterparts to framed paintings. In the 18th century, Delft potters produced an increasing number of molded plates with accentuated contours and integrated decorative borders.

With its rich polychrome palette, bird-and-flower design, and 26-cm format, this plate is an example of Delft faience chinoiserie from around 1750.

Dimensions: 26 × 26 cm.

Condition: restoration at one corner. A few minor touch-ups and signs of wear on the rim, consistent with its age.