Delftware or Delft pottery, also known as Delft Blue or as delf,
is a general term now used for Dutch tin-glazed earthenware, a form of faience. Most of it is blue and white pottery, and the city of Delft in the Netherlands was the major centre of production, but the term covers wares with other colours, and made elsewhere. It is also used for similar pottery, English delftware.
Vase in a Japanese style, c. 1680, Delft
Window display of Delftware in the market place, Delft
"Armorial Dish" (wapenbord) by Willem Jansz. Verstraeten, c. 1645–1655, Haarlem
18th century Delftware, the plate at left with a Japanese scene
Tin-glazing is the process of giving tin-glazed pottery items a ceramic glaze that is white, glossy and opaque, which is normally applied to red or buff earthenware. Tin-glaze is plain lead glaze with a small amount of tin oxide added. The opacity and whiteness of tin glaze encourage its frequent decoration. Historically this has mostly been done before the single firing, when the colours blend into the glaze, but since the 17th century also using overglaze enamels, with a light second firing, allowing a wider range of colours. Majolica, maiolica, delftware and faience are among the terms used for common types of tin-glazed pottery.
French faience, from Lunéville
Chinese porcelain white ware bowl, not tin-glazed (left), found in Iran, and Iraqi tin-glazed earthenware bowl (right) found in Iraq, both 9-10th century, an example of Chinese influences on Islamic pottery. British Museum.
Dutch delftware tin-glazed tile
Tin dioxide, the raw ingredient in Tin-glazing.