Delft porcelain is to Holland, like Ming porcelain is to China. Visiting a home on Cookson Road called Silver End, owned by Priya and Mohan Mascarenhas was an introduction to the eternal beauty of Royal Delft, quite by chance. One is aware of Limoges, Spode and Wedgewood, but few of us are aware of the beauty and the history of Dutch Royal Delft porcelain.

Priya’s entire living room is a little museum of blue Royal Delft. “My husband Mohan used to work for a Dutch company many decades ago and the Chairman gave me a candle stand of Delft porcelain. This was way back in 1973 and I was intrigued by the simple beauty of the piece. So I searched libraries for information on this particular porcelain. How the Dutch began to make this porcelain, how the colour blue is connected with royalty, why just white and blue - I needed answers to these questions and slowly my collection grew. Today I have this huge collection, which I am sure no one else in Bangalore has. And every piece has a story behind it. I built the collection up from scratch, not just went out and bought it at one go, like any other rich person would,” explains Priya.

 Looking at a line of different models of typical Dutch houses in Amsterdam, Priya explains,  “ These are the Home series which I first began collecting when we flew first class on KLM. I have added to the collection and have 45 pieces as you can see. Many of my expensive antique pieces I bought from Richards Square almost 40 years ago which were acquired from rich British residents of the city, in the old days. Of course today I have given my daughter Nisha a large part of my collection and she too has developed a love for Delft and collects pieces on her travels in Europe.”

It was like Alladin’s cave in Priya’s formal sitting room with blue Delft splashed across the walls and in collections in the room. Candle stands, Liquor jars, flower vases, clogs of various sizes, plates, coasters and the nicest touch of all the Delft table cloths in different sizes gracing the tables. The collection was worth a mind boggling fortune.     

Hallmark of Holland
Blue and white Delft porcelain is the hallmark of Holland. Across the country one can see little porcelain figurines in blue and white porcelain. Dolls kissing in-front of windmills, clogs in various sizes, scenic plates of farmers and clog makers, magnets for the fridge with Holland on them, the variety and list is endless.

And tourists snap them up in  a jiffy. There was even a 365-day Christmas store in the floating flower market in Amsterdam, which had Christmas tree decorations in the signature blue and white Delft porcelain style. However a trip to Delft, a little city near Amsterdam was imperative after wallowing in Priya’s collection. There I learnt that the Royal Delft is the expensive kind and every piece comes with a signature of the artisan and name of factory behind the piece, along with papers of authenticity. I bought a small plate for 30 Euros which really pinched my pocket, but I wanted the real stuff, not the faux ones in the souvenir shops and with papers to flaunt.

As history goes there were factories in Amsterdam, Haarlem and Middelburg which produced multi-coloured earthenware from the 16th century. Dutch potters learnt this trade from their Italian colleagues. Seamen got hold of several cargos of Chinese porcelain, but most importantly the tradesmen of the Dutch East India Company (1602), brought home large quantities of Chinese porcelain from the East.

This type of porcelain with blue decorations on a white background was very popular among the Dutch. Soon afterwards the Dutch potters started to imitate the technique.

Initially, porcelain was an unknown material in the Netherlands. The potters however attempted to imitate the oriental products as well as they could with local clay. Soon lots of factories were founded especially in Rotterdam (12) and Delft (30). The reason being a number of buildings in Delft were left vacant because of the ailing brewery industry.

Today, don’t come back after a trip to Holland, without an authentic Royal Delft piece of porcelain. Maybe it could be the start of a love affair with the porcelain, like Priya’s and one piece could grow into a collection, worth owning like hers.