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We’ve got Mary II to thank for the tulipiere trend. In the late 17th century, the English queen, who briefly ruled alongside her Dutch-born husband William III, developed a penchant for the multi-tiered, multi-spouted “pyramids for flowers” that emerged from Delft in the 17th century. She commissioned three pairs, each a towering baroque confection decorated in Delftware’s signature blue and white, which now reside at Hampton Court Palace. The owners of grand English country houses swiftly followed suit.
Today, the tulipiere is enjoying new popularity. “Fantastic examples have been seen in the homes of designers Benedict Foley and Luke Edward Hall and magazine editor Hamish Bowles,” says Brett Tryner, director at Cheffins Fine Art Auctioneers. Martha Stewart has also extolled their tablescaping potential, he notes. The current exhibition at Chatsworth, The Gorgeous Nothings: Flowers at Chatsworth (until 5 October), features 12 Delft tulipieres, ranging in height from 30cm to more than a metre tall. “We think they were ordered by the first Duke of Devonshire; they were made by The Greek A [De Grieksche A] factory – the same one that Queen Mary II ordered hers from,” notes Katherine Hardwick-Kulpa, assistant curator at the house. And while designers, including Canadian ceramicist Malory Tate and East Anglia-based Ali Hewson, have been making contemporary versions, the antique styles are increasingly sought-after, selling for upwards of five figures.
These feats of craftsmanship display a curious conglomeration of influences. The multi-spouted form dates back to 12th-century Middle Eastern pottery, while the distinctive “pagoda” shape, as well as many of the blue-and-white motifs, come from China, with modelled figures such as lions and mermaids, dragons and salamanders propping up or ornamenting the layers. The name “tulipiere”, however, is something of a misnomer. “They weren’t designed for the cultivation of tulips,” says Hardwick-Kulpa. “People associate tulips and the Tulipmania of the early 17th century with Holland, but historically these vases would have been used to display any kind of cut flowers.”
In terms of collecting, “height is everything”, says Richard Hird, vice president of European ceramics and glass at Sotheby’s. The largest known example, created by the famed Delft factory De Witte Ster (The White Star), which measures 178cm, is in the Louvre collection. A pair at the V&A measures 160cm apiece. When Sotheby’s offered a pair of 153cm-tall examples in 2019, they sold for €1,032,500, more than four times their estimate and still the auction record for Dutch Delft.
Elaborate forms are also desirable. “The tulipiere is the most iconic piece of Delftware,” says Robert Aronson, the fifth-generation owner of Amsterdam-based Aronson Antiquairs. A c1690 De Grieksche A pyramidal vase that he brought to the Tefaf Maastricht art fair last year featured allegorical figures, and fantastical open-mouthed creatures formed the spouts. Once part of Sir Cecil Beaton’s collection, it sold for “well into the six-figure range” and is now in the Cleveland Museum of Art. At Tefaf in March, Aronson showed “a relatively small one, standing at a height of 54.4cm but still in the iconic pyramid shape, and marked with an asterisk for the De Witte Ster factory”, priced at €100,000.
The Delft production of pyramid pieces was short-lived; by c1710, the potteries had stopped turning out the vases. “We would consider ourselves lucky if we had one or two good Dutch Delft examples a year,” says Hird. He highlights two lots in a single New York sale last year: a scalloped bowl-shaped vase from De Grieksche A factory and a pretty pair with a heart-shaped base from De Metaale Pot (The Metal Pot) factory. Both sold for $45,600. At Christie’s last year, a pair of 20cm-high, 18th-century heart-shaped vases, also from De Metaale Pot, went for $40,320.
A more accessible option can be 18th- and 19th-century appropriations. “There are examples in French faience,” says Matilda Burn, head of European ceramics and glass at Christie’s. In 2021, Cheffins offered a 19th-century version by Florentine pottery Cantagalli, consigned from the Bath townhouse of a private collector. “Despite having two spouts missing and losses to the legs of the vase, it sold for £1,100,” says Tryner. At Swedish auction house Bukowskis, specialist Cecilia Nordström highlights Chinese Qing-dynasty vases, including one decorated with four clawed dragons that fetched SKr9,440 (about £703).
English 19th-century takes are yet more scaled-back: fan-shaped quintal vases (with five spouts) were made in numerous guises, from colourful Minton majolica to restrained creamware. A c1810-1825 pearlware pair handpainted with flowers at Yorkshire’s Don Pottery is priced at £1,850 with English pottery dealer John Howard.
Collectors include “ceramics connoisseurs but also people who are just drawn to their visual beauty”, says Hird. “It’s one of those rare objects that transcends the traditional collecting categories.” For Massachusetts-based collectors Jim and Janet Laverdiere, it was a late-17th-century Delft tulipiere they sought to complement their antiques in the William and Mary style. The one they bought from Aronson Antiquairs is now displayed on a c1700-1710 carved-wood Hadley Massachusetts chest. As to whether this 400-year-old piece can still be used to display flowers, Aronson advises against pouring water directly into the separate sections; insert plastic containers first. A prosaic tip for a most poetic display.
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