GOUDA-DESIGN
Collectors Gallery 31 - Pictures 142, 143 &144
We present three items owned by Dineke who lives in Gauteng, south of Johannesburg, South Africa. Gauteng is the new name of the former Transvaal Province and the town where she lives, Vanderbijlpark, is on the border of the Vaal River some 80 km south of Johannesburg. Dineke, who was born in Holland, has a very interesting story in relation to the items.
She tells us - "My grandparents started a shop in the early 1920's in Beverwijk, a town in the Kennemerland area of Holland, about 25 km west from Amsterdam and near the coast. The shop sold everything one needed in a home, including ceramics, also custom jewellery and toys. I remember three sales ladies in the shop and an errand boy. The shop was quite popular for the ceramics we sold. This included Gouda pottery, Velsen pottery and a lot of Delft earthenware.
As a child I well remember going with my aunt on our bicycles to the Velsen factory nearby. She was the buyer for the shop and we used to cycle there to order stuff. There were two old men, brothers as I remember well, who sat in a room cutting out the patterns! In 1943 the factory was ordered by the Germans to move as it was near to the sea. They moved to Sassenheim and changed the name to “Velsen”.
Having grown up with all these ceramics around me, Gouda pottery never really took my fancy - it was stuff to sell! Even now whenever I see Gouda at an antique fair, some at huge prices, it does not grab me. Having said that, I like our PZH Gouda vase and the Velsen vase and bowl as they are so different and bring back many happy memories. After my grandparents died my Mom and my aunt continued for some years with the shop but later they decided to sell up and retire."
Dineke is a ceramicist and has a website here - http://www.ceramicssa.org/Dinekedenbakker.html
Picture 142 - made by Plateelbakkerij Zuid-Holland (PZH). The superb geometric decor is called 'Sungan'. Very remiscent of the 'Aonian Reg' series by PZH - see here. Date is 1926 and was probably painted by Johan van Kersbergen. Model number is 112. The vase stands some 20cm tall by about 12cm in diameter.
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Pictures 143 & 144 - the vase and footed bowl were made by Potterie Kennemerland, founded 1920 - more usually known by collectors as just Velsen. See above in Dineke's article about the factory move to Sassenheim. Dineke says - "The pattern on both items is carved out and glazed in blue, green and brown colours".
The vase is 25cm tall by 11cm in diameter while the footed bowl stands some 11cm tall by 24cm in diameter at the widest.
We are grateful to our friend Ron Tasman (The Gouda Pottery Book) in giving us the following information about Dineke's Velsen items.
Ron tells us - "These are wonderful
examples of a very rare product from Velsen. Made in the style
of Frisian "kerfsnee aardewerk" (notch cut earthenware).
The vase was made in the Velsen factory between 1945 and 1950
by Gerrit Dijkstra (1884-1957). The footed bowl, model number
170, dates from 1929-1939. The design has been attributed to
Carl Gellings. It looks like Gerrit Dijkstra used this same model
for his notch cutting work after the war. In Friesland they have
been making kerfsnee pottery for many, many years - probably
over 200!".
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