A VERY RARE DUTCH DELFT FREDERIK VAN FRIJTOM BLUE AND WHITE RECTANGULAR PLAQUE, depicting a wooded hilly landscape with wayfarers, three groups of trees divide the landscape into two parts: on the left behind a moor, a peasant woman and a child in front of a faraway hill or dune, on the right a gentleman on horseback flanked by two wayfarers on a sandy road, late 17th Century (two extremely minute chips to the surface, 2 x 2 x 2 mm) (framed)

THE FRIJTOM PLAQUE Frederik van Frijtom (1632-1702) the Grand Master of Dutch Delftware The name of Frederik van Frijtom and various of his works have been known to art historians, collectors and antique dealers for some time. He painted the landscape on his pottery, as in this case, by copying his original drawings, which he made after nature. Now, almost three centuries after van Frijtom embarked on his career, we can confer on him the posthumous title of a Grand Master, since we are now in a position to objectively comment on Delft pottery as a whole, by studying and comparing the pieces that have been preserved and collected. It is only now that we fully realize what an eminent artist van Frijtom was and how important a place he and his work occupy in the history of Delft pottery. Van Frijtom's work is exceedingly personal in nature and spiritual in intent, qualities by which it differs essentially from and far surpasses the average Delftware produced by his contemporaries, which, however beautiful it may be, usually remains of decorative character only. For these reasons it is doubtful whether the majority of his fellow craftsmen and contemporaries (not to speak of the public at large) saw and understood the true significance of van Frytom and his work. The most gifted and more intelligent of his professional colleagues will not have failed to notice, however, that he had mastered his craft to perfection, even though they could not perhaps share his ideas, views and intentions. Frederik van Frytom's considerable significance is determined first and foremost by the ceramic work we know from his hand. As a potter-painter, he is both a highly exceptional and a very great artist. In his genre, and by virtue of his personal ideas, views and technique, he forms a unique phenomenon among the great masters who practised this art at Delft and is surpassed by none. In him the potter's art at Delft reached its apogee. It was he who raised this more or less decorative art to a level on which it acquired a spiritual quality and achieved freedom. Although van Frytom's ceramic works bear witness to a high degree of pictorial ability, they nevertheless remain purely ceramic in essence. There can be no doubt that in the possibilities and the technique which the potter's craft have to offer the artist, he found his destination and his fulfilment. The ceramic works by van Frytom which have been preserved are fairly limited in number; in fact, compared with what remains to us of other artists' work, their number must be said to be very small indeed. Even if we possessed only one specimen - indeed, only a fragment of one specimen of his work - a practised and sensitive ceramophile would, without doubt, be able at once to deduce that this was the work of an extremely gifted decorator of pottery and also of a highly remarkable personality. The work is so powerful and so personal, both in touch and in character, that it would be sufficient for us to have examined and studied but one piece definitely known to be the master's work - and to have examined and studied once only - in order to be able to recognize every other work by him, at sight, and with certainty. When we examine van Frytom's work for its technical characteristics, we are at once struck by his great knowledge of his craft and the careful, precise and flawless way in which he performs all its various processes, combining them into a lovely and harmonious entity. He must have been aware that even the slightest impurity in the raw materials he used would have spoilt the effect of the whole. The clay he used is extraordinarily fine and pure in composition. He blended the different sorts of clay with the utmost care, washing and sifting them over and over again until all impurities and foreign bodies, such as mineral residues, plant fibres and coarse particles, had disappeared. Then he kneaded the clay until it had acquired the plasticity he considered necessary. It is hardly likely that he allowed others to prepare his raw materials for him, unless he had someone near at hand who could perform the different processes as he wanted them to be performed. The volumes he used were always in accordance with the peculiar character of the object he intended to make; thus, the body, for instance, is never too heavy and never too light. As a result the forms of the dishes and plates he made, throwing them himself on the wheel with the utmost care and with great skill, possess exactly the right tension. The tin enamel to which van Frytom applied his paintings is once again of unparalleled purity, providing an immaculate, warm, white ground for the subjects he depicted with his brush, its seems that he covered his objects with several layers of it; this beautiful white is therefore called dubbel wit, 'double white'. From times immemorial our painters have felt attracted by the landscape of Holland and especially by the light distilled by the local atmosphere, a little subdued, quiet, mild and pure, which envelops the 'Low Countries by the sea'. There can be no doubt that, for van Frytom, this light had a magical effect. In one way or another van Frytom must have been aware of the relation that exists between white and light. White is not a colour, but the reflection of pure light. Throughout the centuries white has always been seen as a symbol of light, of spiritual perfection and purity. If we examine van Frytom's work very closely and endeavour to explain the effect it has on the mind, we arrive at the view, and the conviction, that its essential significance lies precisely in the use of this white ground which fulfils a special function in his work. To most pottery-decorators, the ground or background was no more than a flat surface to be decorated one way or another, a space to be filled. For van Frytom, however, the ground was precisely the opposite of a flat surface. By using this purified 'white', he succeeded in transfiguring the surface into infinite space and depth, in which his creative spirit and adroit hand were to call to life his own emotional and ideological world. By virtue of this mysterious 'white', the landscapes he painted seem to be bathed in a glow of light. Further charasteristic features of the master are his special way of painting the foliage of trees and bushes and his manner of depicting clouds. But, as already indicated, the 'wonderful' in his work comes first and foremost from the light which shines over and 'out of' things. This light endows it with the spiritual atmosphere of the age in which he lived and with which his soul was so deeply imbued. This same lucid, spiritual atmosphere can be met with in the works of van Frytom's famous contemporary and fellow-citizen, the painter Johannes Vermeer. excerpts from: (A. Vecht, Catalogue raisonné of Frederik van Frijtom, a Delft pottery-decorator, p. 25 - 44 op.cit.)

Details

Literature

H. Morley-Fletcher and R. Mc Illroy, Christie's Pictorial History of European Pottery, ill. 3 for this plaque.

Lot Essay

Based with slight differences on a picture signed by Frederik van Frijtom in the Gemeentemuseum, Delft.

c.f. - A. Vecht, Catalogue raisonné of a Delft pottery-decorator (this plaque is unrecorded here)
- B.R.M. de Neeve, Catalogue Museum Boymans - van Beuningen, Rotterdam (14/12/68 - 3/2/69), De plateelschilder Frederik van Frijtom en landschappen in blauw (this plaque is unrecorded here)

Bibliography Frederik van Frijtom
- H. Havard, Histoire de la Faïence de Delft, Paris 1878 - O. Granberg, Les collections privées de la Suède, deel I Stockholm 1886 - H. Havard, La céramique hollandaise (2 volumes), Amsterdam 1909 - Thieme-Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildende Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, 12e deel, Leipzig 1916 - E. Neurdenburg, B. Rackham, Old Dutch pottery and tiles, London 1923 - H. von Kohlhausen, Führer durch das hamburgische Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe VIII, Holländisches Kunstgewerbe, Hamburg 1924 - F.W. Hudig, Delfter Fayence, Berlin 1929 - O. von Falke, Die Sammlung Vieweg, in 'Pantheon', deel XIX, 1937 - C.H. de Jonge, Oud-Nederlandsche majolica and Delfts aardewerk, Amsterdam 1947 - E. Neurdenburg, Oud Nederlandsche majolica, tegels en Delftsch aardewerk, Heemschutserie, deel 35, 3e druk, Amsterdam 1948 - M.A. Heukensfeldt Jansen, Delfts aardewerk, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 1955 - H.P. Fourest, Les faïences de Delft, Paris 1957- B. Jansen, Gleyersgoet en Delfts Blauw, Den Haag 1958 - J. Helbig, Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Bruxelles, Faïences Hollandaises, XVIIe - XVIIIe - début XIXe siècle, part two, Bruxelles 1959 - J.Q. van Regteren Altena, Een omlijste plaque van Delfts maaksel, in 'Mededelingenblad vrienden van de Nederlandse ceramiek', nr. 37, 1964

Locations of the Works by Frederik van Frijtom
- Amsterdam, P. de Boer Collection - Amsterdam, D.F.W. Langelaan collection - Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum - Amsterdam, Six Collection - Amsterdam, Vecht Collection - Berlin, Kunstgewerbemuseum - Brussels, Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire - Cologne, Kunstgewerbemuseum der Stadt Köln - Delft, Rijksmuseum 'Huis Lambert van Meerten' - Delft, Stedelijk Museum 'Het Prinsenhof'- Doorn, 'Huis Doorn' - Enschede, Rijksmuseum Twenthe, on loan from 'Stichting Oudheidkamer Riessen', Rijssen - Ghent, Archeologisch Museum 'Het Bijloke' - 's-Graveland, Jhr. P.J. Six, Jkvr. C.I. Six en Jkvr. H.M.A.F. Six Collection - The Hague, Gemeentemuseum - Hamburg, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe - Laren, Jhr. Ir. C.G. Six van Wimmenum Collection - London, Victoria and Albert Museum - New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art - Rotterdam, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen - Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts et de la Céramique de Rouen - De Steeg, S. van Deventer Collection - Vierhouten, Van Beuningen Collection - Vlaardingen, mrs. C.T. Hoogendijk de Boon Collection - Vught, Dr. F.H. Fentener van Vlissingen Collection - Vught, F.H. Fentener van Vlissingen Collection - G.d.S. Collection, Holland - Mrs. F.B. Adams Collection, U.S.A.

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