Pair of Kakiemon Vases, Delft, circa 1710. Object Number: D2630 © Aronson Delftware at TEFAF Maastricht

A refined dialogue between Japan and Delft.

This elegant pair of Kakiemon vases, created in Delft around 1710, beautifully illustrates how Dutch potters embraced and reinterpreted one of the most celebrated decorative styles of Japanese porcelain. With their slender necks, balanced proportions, and luminous white ground, the vases display flowering branches and birds arranged in an airy composition, an approach characteristic of the Kakiemon aesthetic, where space itself becomes part of the design.

The Kakiemon style originated in Arita, Japan, during the mid-seventeenth century and reached Europe through the port of Nagasaki. Admired for its refined asymmetry and delicate enamel palette, it inspired ceramic workshops across Europe. Delft potters quickly mastered this visual language, translating it into tin-glazed earthenware while preserving its elegance and restraint. Produced at De Grieksche A (The Greek A) factory, these vases demonstrate the high technical and artistic level Delft achieved in the early eighteenth century.