Before and After Delft

Italian craftsmen brought the tradition of tin-glazed earthenware to the northern Netherlands in the late 16th century. As a result, early works made in Haarlem resembled Italian maiolica, often featuring grotesque decoration and a yellow-orange tone. In response to the influx of Chinese porcelain into the Netherlands after 1600, maiolica makers sought to compete with foreign wares by refining their clay and developing an all-over glaze. By around 1620, these developments had firmly established Delftware as the dominant ceramic tradition in the Netherlands. By the mid-18th century, a few factories such as Weesp and Oude Loosdrecht were producing true, hard-paste porcelain, with light and delicate decoration leaving the white ground as a central feature of their design. Earthenware producers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries created works inspired by contemporary artistic movements, such as Art Nouveau and modernism.

In 2018, the MFA received an important gift of late 19th- and early 20th-century Dutch decorative arts from collectors Justin G. Schiller and Dennis M. V. David. The gift included 37 ceramics by notable artists Theodoor Colenbrander, Josef Mendes da Costa, and Chris Lanooy.