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Plaque
Dutch (Delft)
last quarter of 18th century
Object Place: Europe, The Netherlands
Medium/Technique
Tin-glazed faience earthenware with polychrome decoration
Dimensions
34.9 x 31 cm (13 3/4 x 12 3/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Rita and Frits Markus
Accession Number1983.604
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
DescriptionThe molded plaque is flat with a raised rim, whose undulating outer edge gives the plaque its shape. The top of the plaque is pierced with two holes for hanging. Against a pale blue ground a man and woman are shown in a forest clearing. The woman wears a full-length dress with a low neckline with a yellow ruffle. The bodice and full, elbow-length sleeves are blue and the skirt orange. Her hair is tied on top of her head with yellow and red ribbons. She is seated on a stone bench, leaning on her right arm. Her left arm, bent at the elbow, rests on her raised left hip. On the ground in front of her is a cage containing a rooster and a hen. Standing to the woman's left is a man wearing a black hat, an orange waistcoat, a yellow shirt, blue breeches, yellow-green stockings, and black shoes with ties. With his right hand, the man offers the woman a yellow and red pear attached to a leafy branch; he gestures toward the cage with his left hand. On the ground to the man's left are a scythe and a sheaf of wheat, and three loose wheat stalks lie in front of the cage. The ground in front of the couple is terminated by a blue scalloped edge. Behind the bench a large green bush obscures the base of a tall tree with a manganese purple trunk and green foliage; to the right stands a pollarded tree, also in manganese purple, with tall, bluegrass at its base. The molded rim is painted with floral and foliate motifs in blue and green against an orange ground, with yellow and manganese purple flowers at the points of the molding and larger flowers at the center of each side. A plain white band borders the rim, whose outermost edge is painted blue.