Delft – Blue and White Wall Plaque with polychrome self-frame, mid 18th century

Delft blue and white wall plaque with integral polychrome self-frame, mid-18th century.

The central decoration depicts an Oriental landscape with blossoming peonies, painted in cobalt blue. The moulded self-frame is decorated with symmetrical Rococo shell ornament picked out in yellow and iron-red enamels. The combination of a blue and white scene with a polychrome Rococo frame is characteristic of Delft production of the mid-18th century.

Wall plaques of this type were conceived as pictorial decorative objects and were intended to be hung on the wall. In contemporary household inventories they are often recorded as porceleine schilderijen (“porcelain paintings”), reflecting their function as ceramic counterparts to framed paintings and prints within domestic interiors.

Good antique condition with wear and minor glaze and fritting losses consistent with age.

Mid-18th century.

25 x 25 cm