UNKNOWN POTTER, Dutch
(active 1680s in Delft)

Tulip vase

1680s
Blue-painted faience, height 35 cm
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg

The flower pot, a receptacle for cut flowers, was a luxury item made in all shapes and sizes in the 17th century in the Netherlands. Its requisite parts included the water reservoir and the spouts in which the cut flowers were put. Nowadays such flower pots are usually called tulip vases, because the spouts are frequently filled with tulips.

In this flower pot a striking feature is formed by the monster-like heads on the lid, with bared teeth they hold the spouts in their jaws. Like the handles in the form of dragon's heads on both sides of the flower pot, these monsters evoke associations with Chinese ornamentation.