Product Information - Royal Delft

De Porceleyne Fles

Royal Delft (Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles – Delft) is the only seventeenth-century pottery in Delft which to date is still in business. Since its founding in 1653 by David Thonisz van der Piet Royal Delft produces more than 350 years Delftware already. In 1919, the factory obtained the designation 'Royal'.

You can recognize the original Delft decorative pottery by its logo that is ingrained on each article. A pharmacy bottle including the intertwined initials JT of Joost Thooft the owner of the company in 1876 and the word Delft written in this manner. Left of the mark you see the initials of the painter and to the right two letters indicate the code years. That mark is the guarantee of genuine, entirely hand painted Delft earthenware of Royal Delft.

Delft Blue

Delft Blue earthenware, the world famous Delftware inspired by Chinese motives has for centuries been completely hand painted. Refined flower, leaf and vines motifs interspersed with ornamental birds or typical Dutch landscapes and seascapes are still the subjects of the painting of the pottery of Royal Delft.

In 1653 at the start of the Royal Delft Porcelain Bottle yellow-baking clay was used which after having been baked was first covered with tin-glaze and then was painted with crushed oxides. During the second baking in the oven the colour emerged. A century later they moved on to white-baking clay like the English example of Wedgwood. For the manufacturing of Delft pottery the clay ingredients are carefully selected. The clay consists of approximately 10 different raw materials of which the most important are: kaolin, chalk, feldspar and quartz. This white clay gives the opportunity to paint directly after the first baking and only then immerse them in glaze and for the second time to bake. It gives a sharper drawing. After the glaze is applied in unfired state it is opaque as you can see on the left vase. Now the product goes into the oven for the second time. During the firing process the glaze melts at a temperature of 1200°C into a transparent layer of glass. The decoration resurfaces at that stage. The chemical and physical reaction between clay, engobe, paint and glaze at that temperature is what creates the typical Delft Blue colour.

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