In the r9th century the famous ceramic traditions of the early maiolica and Delft ware, with its cream pate, had completely dis appeared. That which had taste imported from elsewhere flour ished. In the last quarter of the century there was a revival. J. Thooft in 1876 bought the last remaining Delft factory, De Porceleyne Fles, and, together with Ad. Lecomte, he applied him self to the revival of Dutch artistic pottery. Unfortunately at first this usually consisted of an imitation of old Delft ware,—blue and, later on, coloured; but shortly after, in 1884 at The Hague, the German ceramist W. Von Gudenberg together with the decor ative artist Th. Colenbrander, began to make more original work in the Rozenburg factory. Colenbrander's designs were novel and distinguished, his decors sometimes under Japanese influence, but usually completely his own, were in rich colours and usually had phantasies of plant motifs. There are amongst these bright and slightly too brilliantly glazed pieces of faience hints of futuristic compositions, but they are purer from a decorative point of view.
Production of this kind at the Rozenburg factory lasted only until 1889 when Colenbrander left it. It was not revived until 1916, when the vogue was for rather heavy, darkly painted faience. A peculiar product was a kind of very thin pseudo-porcelain, in pale colours, shaped and painted in Jugend style. Japanese influence can be recognized in the ornament. The material, as thin as paper, has not been generally used. Meanwhile the De Porceleyne Fles found two clever artists in L. Senf and E. L. F. Bodart who made various experiments, including dark brown earthenware with running glazes and graffite ornaments, and glass-covered faience with painting inspired by Persian colour and decor. Gold and silver lustre ware has also been successful.
A third tendency became apparent, the influence of the Eng lish movement in industrial art inspired by Morris and Crane. On the one hand this was seen in the workshops when first at Amstel hoek and later at Distel an attempt was made to produce beauti ful domestic ware with simple materials and old ceramic tech niques. On the other hand an independent potter, W. C. Brouwer,
turned original shapes on a potter's wheel, which, coated with self made glazes, were simple but elegant objects. Very little plastic work was done, but the sculptor J. Mendes Da Costa made very delicate and typical small groups of Jewish women and animals in lead-glazed gres.
An important figure in the loth century was C. J. Lanooy, who, as an independent ceramist, imitated the gres flambes of the French, and produced very original and most beautifully coloured pieces. His glazes in which metallic oxides play an important part, are frequently very fortunate discoveries. B. Nienhuys, for a long time a teacher at Hagen, Westphalia, and later at the industrial school at Amsterdam, has a fine feeling for harmonious colouring, and his pots and vases certainly have good and original shapes.
Th. Nieuwenhuys and C. Lion Cachet, who as decorative artists occupied themselves with many forms of art, designed faience for the Distel which is deserving of attention. About 1912 Colen brander, for a short time, made faience covered with dull glazes on which his peculiar decors, principally in blue and brown, were painted. Again, about 1925, in his old age, he designed under glaze decors on the faience of the Arnhem factory Ram. At the same time the factory of Eskaf produced beautiful domestic ware with white streaming glazes, sometimes decorated in black in a plastic manner, and also miniature plastics, both by H. Krop. At the factory of Z. Holland at Gouda, domestic ware of good shape and colour was made by C. De Lorm. Brouwer still continues his work and also frequently designs ware for interior decoration. Besides those of Senf and Bodart and their disciples the De Por celeyne Fles produces very good tiles, usually in monochrome, but also in fine colours. Generally speaking, Dutch faience—no por celain or gres is produced—has a distinct character of its own.