Description
Pair of polychrome reclining cows, Delft, circa 1760
The Two Ships pottery. Mark: AP, period of Anthonij Pennis (1750-1770) or his widow Rachel Overgaauw-Pennis (1770-1782)
The two modelled reclining cows lie on a base and have their heads turned to each other. The cows are accented in blue, their hooves are painted purple. The neck and body of the cows are decorated with polychrome garlands of flowers and a flower with leaves is applied just above the tails. The sides of the green base are marbled in purple, green, yellow, and brown-red.
Together with dogs, horses and parrots, cows are the most frequently modelled animals in eighteenth century Dutch Delftware. They were put on the market between 1740 and 1780 and were produced by nearly every Delftware pottery. Only two types are known: a reclining cow and a standing cow. The latter could be made as a milking group, together with a farmer and his wife. The two types were executed in a great variety of form, dimension and colour combination. They can be monochrome white, blue and white, or polychrome. Some monochrome white models were cold-painted. Outside Delft, figures of cows were also made on a small scale in tile factories in Amsterdam. The use of floral wreaths on cows or bulls harks back to a seventeenth century custom. Every year the butchers guild held a parade with the prize-winning cows and bulls, which were lavishly adorned with flowers and floral wreaths.
Dimensions for each cow: height 12.5 cm / 4.92 in., length 17,5 cm / 6.88 in., width 8 cm / 3.14 in.
This set is 250 years of age! Some older restorations to the ears and horns updated. A few old restorations on the back of the cows have been updated. There are still a few minor glaze damages that does not disturb and is that are appropriate for the age of this set. An image of these cows from before the restorations is available.
I carefully package all items in a double-box and use first class packaging material.
