About the origin of Delft Blue:

Delft Blue was created from the original decoration of Chinese porcelain during the Ming dynasty, that was imported during the 17th century in Holland (The Golden Century).
Since then it was copied to the earthware in different European countries, but mainly in Holland around the city of Delft. That is how it became known as Delft Blue.


About Mr .M.v.d Berg:

Martin was born in Woerden, 10 miles from Gouda
He learned to paint at Regina from the age of 14 years on, from 1955 until 1966. Regina (Family van der Want) was a leading company in the field of Delftware in Gouda. They stop production around 1966. Martin started at that time as a freelancer, first as a painter on wood (mostly small furniture: this style is called “Hindeloper” ).
Since then Martin has worked for various Delft manufacturers: ‘t Anker Gouda, NKI (Gouda), de Kruik (Nieuwekerk) and Jumbo (Gouda), since our acquisition of Jumbo in 1997, Martin started to work for Montagne. During the same period, Martin worked on promotions and special occasions for KLM (in Moscow 1995), Dutch Ministry of Agriculture (in different countries like Spain, Slovenia, Austria) and in Canada for the Michigan Tulip festival.


Making of Delft Blue:

Master mold and working mold.
For each model in a collection, a master mold is made first. This master mold is a precise reproduction of how the piece of pottery should look later. It can be from anything, from a Vase or a Dog to a more complicated construction such as a pottery Violin. A number of negative working molds of these are poured in plaster.

Clay and Biscuit.
These negatives are poured full of clay. This clay cakes onto the edges of the negatives. The rest of the clay is poured out and the molds are opened. The product is polished and sponges off, after wich the clay is baked for the first time. This creates the so-called biscuit dried, give this a white porous pottery. This biscuit is ready for further treatment.

Decoration and finishing.
Biscuit is treated in two ways. In some cases a figure is printed on it with silkscreen, after which painters proceed to paint the product, in other cases the entire product is handpainted. After painting, the products proceed to a glazing department, where they are immersed or spayed to be baked for a final second time. The final result is a beautiful piece of Delft blue.

Schedule:
Sunday 2 September – Sunday 9 September:

‘The Dutch Market’
Weekdays from 09.00am to 07.00pm
Weekends (Fri, Sat, Sun) from 09.00am to 09.00pm
Venue: In front of the Stadthuys

Date: 2 september 2007 - 9 september 2007