Vase depicting the history of Niobe, made at the factory "Het Moriaenshooft", Delft, Netherlands, about 1680-86, tin-glazed earthenware with painted decoration in 'in-glaze' blue and enamels

Tin-glazed earthenware vase with painted decoration in 'in-glaze' blue and enamels.

Purchased with the assistance of the Bryan Bequest

See The Hague 1999, pp. 198-211, for history of the factory and further marked pieces.

The continuing freeze, painted in 'in-glaze' blue, depicts scenes from the history of Niobe from Greek mythology, probably after an engraving by Giovanni Battista Galestruzzi of 1658. The classical style of this is in contrast with the added borders painted in enamel colours, which betray an oriental influence.
The mark "IW" in monogram on the bottom, stands for Jacob Wemmersz Hoppesteyn, who became involved with the pottery "Het Oude Moriaenshooft" in 1659 and was its sole proprietor from 1664 until his dead in 1671. Jacob's widow continued to run the pottery and when marks were introduced on Delft pottery around 1680, she started to use her late husband's initials. Only when their son Rochus took over in 1686, he started to use his own mark "R(I)HS".

The shape of the jar, which would originally have had a lid, is based on an Oriental type. Two pots, both marked "IW" and decorated in a very similar way, are kept in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam and the Musées de Cinquantenaire, Brussels. The pot in Brussels still has its original lid.

C.3-1934