Dated Delftware: below the glaze

Abstract

"The dating of Delftware objects can be achieved through two categories: marked objects, which give an attribution to a factory owner and therefore provide a timeframe for its production, and dated objects. In the absence of either method, one can compare an object with a similar, dated example. Very few archives of Delft factories exists, and scholars have always relied upon certain Delftware objects as a reference for others. For several years, we have been accumulating a list of dated Delftware objects. It is by no means a complete overview, but a selection of objects showing what was created in a specific year. The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam published their Dated Dutch Delftware over thirty years ago, in 1991. That publication contained 72 objects from the museum's collection. Those objects are all included in this publication, together with 47 objects formerly from us and now in private and museum collections, 18 objects that we currently have on offer and further objects from various European and American museums, bringing the total to no less than 290 objects."-- Foreword, Robert Aronson, page 5.