GOUDA-DESIGN

Part 1 in the collection of Dennis van den Hoek and his family.

Here presenting some items from their collection of Jaap Gidding.

Dennis tells us - "In 2002, the van den Hoek family, had inherited several pieces of plateel and so we began to look for additional items to create a collection. We started out by trying to get two or three pieces by all the different factories and creating an overall view - the restriction was that they would be white-bodied or nearly white-bodied items. Soon our collection grew and we saw that our task couldn't be completed without growing out of space! So we adjusted our goal and as we already had a few favourite factories, we concentrated on those and as we liked the designs of Jaap Gidding very much we decided to try and collect all his work. This would include glass and painting, etc. as well as his ceramics. This is how our collection started to take shape. This first part shows some of the pieces from our Jaap Gidding (1878 - 1955) collection starting off with the item we are most proud of."

 

This 1953 plate commemorates the 125th anniversary of the Molyn Company (a factory producing paint, lacquer and varnish) who employed Gidding from 1936 until 1955. This is plate number 1 and is most likely to have been presented to the board of directors of the Molyn Company. The previous owner recalled that his mother got the plate from her girlfriend who had worked for Molyn. When she retired after long service she was allowed to take the plate home because she liked it so much. How many were made is not known but one reject is kept at the Goedewaagen museum in Nieuw-Buinen. This plate has been finished but has no issue number and has a damaged edge which is most likely the reason it was rejected. To date these two are the only known plates.

Dated 1953, plate No.1 from an unknown number of issues. Painted at the Goedewaagen Gouda factory.
Design signature of Jaap Gidding (JG).

No painter initial.

Numbered 1331.

Diameter 28.0cm.

 
 

 

 

The second wall plate is from the same anniversary, it was used to give away to the important companies who bought Molyn products. So as a thank you gift, these smaller golden issues were handed out to representatives of the client companies, the highest issue number seen to date is 345 which is a staggering amount. Getting back to the large wall plate, it could be that board of directors of companies who bought from Molyn received a large plate for the director’s chamber.

 

Date 1953, this is No.63 from at least 345 plates. Goedewaagen Gouda factory again.
Design signature of Jaap Gidding (JG).

No painter initial.

Numbered 1369.

Diameter 20.5cm.

 

 

The third wall plate is in my opinion the most beautiful of Gidding's designs. Made at the De Porceleyne Fles factory in Delft, it shows a Japanese design made modern in the typical Gidding style.


Wallplate from De Porceleyne Fles in Delft. Year mark 'BC' for 1933.

Design signature of Jaap Gidding (Ontwerp JG). Painters initials 'JM' for Johannes Casper Wilhelm Marijnissen.

Diameter 25.0cm.

788 is the trace number for factory use.

 

 

 

 

The bottle below in blue and white is almost certainly a reject from Plateelbakkerij Zuid-Holland. The design on the neck of the bottle (or flask) is not as is should be, therefore, it was probably put on the market as a solo bottle. A complete genever (gin) set consisted of a bottle with stopper and tray. Every design by Gidding had a G-number (G1 - G39) but because there are very few items known or pictures of them in colour, it is very hard to put the correct G-number to a design if the design code is not written on the object. See cactus planter.

 

 

Bottle or flask from Plateelbakkerij Zuid-Holland. Probably painted by Maarten Burger the 'MB'.

No designers mark.

Date 1928.

Height 19.2cm.

No model number shown but it is known to be model 0416.

 


This small cactus planter was designed in 1928 by Jaap Gidding and was part of a series of at least six different designs - models as well as decoration. They were shown at the Nenijto exhibition in Rotterdam from 1928.

A cactus planter from PZH. Design signature for Jaap Gidding (GIDDING). No design mark but almost certainly G35.

Painters mark 'CB' which is unknown.

Date 1929.

Model number 0410
impressed model number 0408.

Height 5.5cm.

 

 

 


The last item of Part 1 is a commemorative plate from the 'Ten Cate' factory (a textile & weaving factory) in Almelo. For 25 years of hard labour this wallplate was presented to worker 'Jan Witvoet' in 1949. When Gidding made the actual design is not yet known but it was used long after he died in 1955. A reject plate (wrong date) is kept at the Goedewaagen museum in Nieuw Buinen with a date of 1967. This is for now the only known design of Gidding that has been in use after his death. As these plates are very much family related it is hard to find other plates. They are in a sense one of a kind and therefore unique.

 

 

Wallplate from Koninklijk Goedewaagen – Gouda. Design signature for Jaap Gidding (JG).

Date 1949.

Painter 'H' is unknown.

1311 (use unknown) and UNICUM
2186 (also use unknown).

Diameter 20.5cm.

 

We wish to thank Stuart & Kim for allowing us to show some of our collection.

The van den Hoek family, January 2008.



Barbara & René Ivora
Dennis Collection Part 2