The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-02-13
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN REAL
AND IMITATION DELFT
- 90 Nh. I'D Exnress.l

.
! The "blueness of delft is just now
! the all prey aiIing topic for discussion
among the delft china devOtees Of this
! city, Delft that is not delft is i'm
/ ported to the United States in large
/ quantities every year. But there is no
diminutiOn in the amount Of the real
I delft that has been coming to this city
since the days of the knickerbockers.
! To distinguish between the real
and the imitation is the peculiar prov
/ inCe of the collector. If delft were all
/ ''Simonpure," and could be bought by
/ anybody in ordinary CrOckery stores,
! there would be no joy in the searching.
/ The. ZeSt of the pursuit lies in the
/ possibility Of discovering q prize.
Color is the most important con-
I sideTatiOn in deciding whether or not
alleged delft is genuine. Blue delft
must not be too blue to be real. The
+ natural color of the ware is a pure
white. It's texture is of hardness
/ greatIy resembling porcelain. The only
/ thing in delft that is legitimately blue
is the design or figures. These are of
a deep indigo tint, the production Of
which is one Of the secrets of Holland.
For more than two centuries potters
all over the world have striven to imi-
tate delft, and have failed. The latest
attempts have been made in Bonn,
! German. Real delft is as different
from the Bonn product as silk is from
satin.
} In the first place, Bonn delft ware is
soft and not unlike majOlica. A slight
/ chip in the glaze reveals its claylike
/ texture. Then, too, the ware itself is
blue, which is an objectionable fault.
/ The coloring of the design seems to
have spread over its entire surface.
/ In an uptown shop a all and Ex
/ press reporter saw two cases of delft
ware standing side by side. One was
filed with recent imDortations of
real" the contents of the other came
from Bonn.
The attempt to introduce Bonn delft
into this country the dealer explained,
has only increased the demand for
real We are importing it in larger
quantities than ever before. Real delft
is easier to obtain now than ii was in
the days of the Dutch occupation. No
reputable dealer would think of selling
piece of Bonn delft for the real.
In fact now that the imitation is
on the market, we are always careful
to inform a prospective CUSTOMER of
the difference in the two kinds of ware,
, for the difference between them is just
as clearly marked as between SeVreS
and Kioto."
From the real show case the re-
porter took up a delft plate. On the
back was the name of the Dutch firm
which made it and the peculiar trade
hieroglyph by which its wares have
been known since the days of Hendrick
Hudson. It consists of an Odd-shaped
/ letter L over the letter F. 1t is doubt
full if outside of Holland man can be
found who can tell the origin and his
tory of the strange trademark.
The back and body of the plate were
pure white. To strike it with your
knuckle was to convince you that it
rings tT1ie as only porcelain can. On
the other side of the plate was a pic
ture Of the head Of a woman past mid
/ die life. The firm, heavy mouth and
prominent cheek bones We're undOubted
Dutch characteristics
Next to it in the case was another
plate on which was the same portrait
but even the most cursory glance
showed differences between them. The
/ lines in the face were not the same.
! Shadow existed in one portrait when
1 there was only light in the other. They
/ were evidently the work of two diff
| ferep from the same copy.
| tn ergencies are one of the
dist hing marks of real delft. II
/ is all painted by hand. No machine
/ ever comes in contact with it. Bonn
delft is in a striking contrast AbsO-
lutte uniformity is obtained by the use
of stencils and machine-made outlines.
Contrary to the belief of some col
: 1ectOrs there is no intrinsic merit in old
delft. The kind that comes from the
! potteries today is quite as fine and
more beautiful in design than its pre-
Gecessor.
Delft is made in vast variety of
forms. Clocks, vases, candlesticks,
/ plates and saucers can all be obtained
in the real quite as easily IN New
York as in Delft Haven.