Delft – Polychrome Wall Plaque, mid 18th century

18th century Delft faience wall plaque, painted in polychrome enamels. The plaque is modelled in a cartouche form with a self-moulded frame.

The frame is composed of a green ground border reserved with floral scrollwork within blue lines, and a band above the outer edge. At the top, the plaque is fitted with a pair of leaf-scroll motifs flanking the suspension hole, indicating its intended wall display.

The central composition consists of a small medallion depicting a chinoiserie-inspired landscape scene. This is flanked symmetrically by two flower vases filled with stylised blooms. The surrounding field is enriched with scrolling volutes and foliate ornamentation, executed in a vivid palette of blue, green, iron-red and yellow.

Delft wall plaques of this type were conceived as pictorial decorative objects. They were intended for domestic interiors, particularly in affluent households, where they were displayed on walls in reception rooms, kitchens, or corridors. In period household inventories, such objects are referred to as “porcelain paintings,” reflecting their role as ceramic counterparts to framed works on paper or canvas within the decorative hierarchy of the interior.

The reverse is flat and glazed, with traces of provenance label from a Brussels antiquarian collection.

22.5 x 25 cm