A Model of a Fruit in Polychrome Dutch Delft Earthenware - Pear

Fruit models were widely produced in Delft in the second half of the eighteenth century. Their origins lie in the Rococo era when terrines and other faïence tableware were made in realistic animal, vegetable and fruit shapes. The fruit models were placed as ornaments on the richly laid table; they were also hung to decorate a kitchen.

Similar exvamples: Four fruit models of this type are illustrated by Van Dam, 2004, p. 173, pl. 116, who comments that these were "small items to decorate the table at any time of year;" and twelve fruits, including several very similar apples and pears, are illustrated by Lavino, P: 58, who on p. 81 also illustrates a collection of these fruit models hung against tiled walls. A garland composed of fifteen similar fruit models in the Musees Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Brussels, is illustrated by Helbig, Vol. 11, p. 70, fig. 57; and by De Jonge, 1965, p. 307, pI. 194, and De Jonge, 1970, p. 142, ill. 149.