A pair of mid-18th-century Dutch Delftware wall plaques with blue-painted biblical scenes and polychrome moulded borders. Each plaque has a suspension hole at the top and a projecting socket below, made to receive a candle arm. The pair was designed as wall sconces, combining candlelight with a narrative image in tin-glazed earthenware. The plaques depict the Finding of Moses (Exodus 2:5–6). Pharaoh’s daughter stands beneath a parasol beside the river as an attendant bends towards the infant in his basket. The central scenes are framed by scrollwork and floral ornament picked out in yellow, green and manganese, with small panels depicting sheep on either side. Both plaques follow the same composition, with slight differences in the painted details. The scene derives from one of six Old Testament subjects designed by Jacopo Amigoni (1682–1752) and circulated as engravings published by Joseph Wagner in Venice. The other subjects include David and Abigail, Rebecca at the Well, Moses Striking a Shepherd, Abraham Kneeling before the Three Angels and Jacob’s Ladder. The National Gallery of Art, Washington, holds a complete set (inv. nos. 1984.84.1–1984.84.6), including The Finding of Moses, inv. no. 1984.84.1. www.nga.gov Similar examples: A Delftware plaque with the same subject is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. no. BK-1958-34-A. Another is in the Cleveland Museum of Art, inv. no. 2024.12. www.rijksmuseum.nl Literature relating to the Rijksmuseum example: Henry Havard, Catalogue chronologique et raisonné des faïences de Delft composant la collection de John F. Loudon (1877), no. 418, p. 71; T. G. Kootte, ed., De bijbel in huis (1991), no. 146, p. 100; Jan Daniël van Dam, Delffse Porceleyne: Delfts aardewerk 1620–1850 (2004), pp. 138–139.

Pair of Delftware Wall Plaques with the Finding of Moses, mid-18th century

Pair of Delftware Wall Plaques with the Finding of Moses, mid-18th century

€22,500.00

ABOUT THIS ITEM

A pair of mid-18th-century Dutch Delftware wall plaques with blue-painted biblical scenes and polychrome moulded borders. Each plaque has a suspension hole at the top and a projecting socket below, made to receive a candle arm. The pair was designed as wall sconces, combining candlelight with a narrative image in tin-glazed earthenware.

The plaques depict the Finding of Moses (Exodus 2:5–6). Pharaoh’s daughter stands beneath a parasol beside the river as an attendant bends towards the infant in his basket. The central scenes are framed by scrollwork and floral ornament picked out in yellow, green and manganese, with small panels depicting sheep on either side. Both plaques follow the same composition, with slight differences in the painted details.

The scene derives from one of six Old Testament subjects designed by Jacopo Amigoni (1682–1752) and circulated as engravings published by Joseph Wagner in Venice. The other subjects include David and Abigail, Rebecca at the Well, Moses Striking a Shepherd, Abraham Kneeling before the Three Angels and Jacob’s Ladder. The National Gallery of Art, Washington, holds a complete set (inv. nos. 1984.84.1–1984.84.6), including The Finding of Moses, inv. no. 1984.84.1. www.nga.gov

A Delftware plaque with the same subject is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. no. BK-1958-34-A. Another is in the Cleveland Museum of Art, inv. no. 2024.12. www.rijksmuseum.nl

Literature
Henry Havard, Catalogue chronologique et raisonné des faïences de Delft composant la collection de John F. Loudon (1877), no. 418, p. 71;
T. G. Kootte, ed., De bijbel in huis (1991), no. 146, p. 100;
Jan Daniël van Dam, Delffse Porceleyne: Delfts aardewerk 1620–1850 (2004), pp. 138–139.

Dimensions
32x 26.5 cm

Condition
Good condition, wear constistent with age. Restoration to one of the holders and small retouche on the lowest rocaille