Delftware

Delftware or Delft pottery, also known as Delft Blue (Dutch: Delfts blauw) 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.

Delftware is one of the types of tin-glazed pottery in which a white glaze is applied and usually decorated with metal oxides. In particular, the cobalt oxide is used for its ability to withstand high firing temperatures, allowing it to be applied under this glaze. Cobalt Oxide is also what gives Delftware its trademark blue designs.

Delftware belongs to the global family of blue and white pottery, featuring variations of plant-based decorations that originated in Abbasid Iraq and were later popularized in Europe via Chinese adaptations.

Delftware includes pottery objects of all descriptions, such as plates, vases, figurines and other ornamental forms and tiles. The style originated around 1600, and the most highly regarded period of production is about 1640–1740, but Delftware continues to be produced. In the 17th and 18th centuries the manufacture of Delftware was a major industry, with product exported all over Europe.