Société Céramique Maastricht two large "Vieux Delft" transferware fluted vases
Two beautiful large Delft style fluted flower vases made between 1900 and 1957 by Société Céramique in Maastricht, the Netherlands. The vases are decorated underglaze with transfer prints applied by hand. The decoration follows the octagonal (eight-sided) shape of the vases and features two alternating cartouches of cranes in a garden, surrounded by elaborate and intricate Delft style ornaments and patterns. The inside of the vases is fully glazed.
The bottom of both vases is signed with a "Société Céramique Maestricht - Made in Holland" mark used between 1900 and 1957 and the style / series name: "Vieux Delft". It also shows an impressed number "1".
A beautifully decorated pair of vases, great to use just for decoration, but also suitable for actual use as flower vases.
Made by: Société Céramique
Place of manufacture: Maastricht, the Netherlands
Year of manufacture: between 1900 - 1957, most likely between 1930 and 1940
Method of decoration: transfer print (underglaze)
Size: height: 34,0 cm, diameter: 16,7 cm (capacity 2,25 litres each)
Weight: total 2,38 kg (approx. 1,19 kg each)
Condition: both vases are in a very good condition, without any damages, cracks or hairlines. The glaze on the rim of both vases feels a bit rough to the touch and one of the vases shows some uneven glazing near the rim (see pictures). Both are not very disturbing. Generally the glaze of both vases shows very little wear, it has a beautiful gloss and shows only very light crazing. The inside of the vases is very clean (aside from a few small underglaze ink spots, which are normal production artefacts for these kind of vases).
Additional pictures can be provided if required.
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About Société Céramique:
This factory was based in Maastricht, in the southernmost point of the Netherlands. It produced from 1863 to 1958 decorative ceramics and dinnerware in a variety of styles. Most often the decoration was applied by transfer print: a method whereby a monochrome print on paper (from an engraved copper or steel plate) was transferred by pressing it onto the ceramic piece. This transfer process was done by hand. Although transfer printed items lack the vibrancy of handpainted items, the process does allow for the production of beautiful, detailed and decorative items, which would be very expensive or impossible to produce by handpainting. The Delftware (blue and white Delft blue) produced by Société Céramique and other Maastricht factories has a darker blue than the Delftware of other factories in the Netherlands. In 1958 Société Céramique merged with Petrus Regout (also from Maastricht) to form Royal Sphinx, which continued to produce Delftware until 1969.
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This beautiful pair of vases will be carefully packed and send by tracked and insured mail. If you buy additional items from our shop, we will combine the shipping of these items. If the actual combined shipping costs are less than the shipping costs that you have already paid, we will refund the difference. So you will only pay the actual shipping costs.
If you are not satisfied with your purchase, you may contact us within 14 days from the delivery date to return the item. If the item is returned in its original condition, we will issue a refund for the price of the item (shipping costs are however not covered).
Shipping from The Netherlands
Processing time
1-2 business days
Customs and import taxes
Buyers are responsible for any customs and import taxes that may apply. I'm not responsible for delays due to customs.
Payment Options
Returns & Exchanges
I gladly accept returns
Just contact me within: 14 days of delivery
Ship items back to me within: 30 days of delivery
I don't accept exchanges or cancellations
But please contact me if you have any problems with your order.
Conditions of return
Buyers are responsible for return shipping costs. If the item is not returned in its original condition, the buyer is responsible for any loss in value.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are your shipping times?
We will send off your order within one or two working days. We use the standard parcel service of PostNL to ship our parcels. You can find their estimated delivery times per country here (shortened link to pdf download of PostNL): https://bit.ly/3ZHTMJ9. In the fourth column (parcels) you can find the delivery times of the standard service (in estimated business / working days). Please keep in mind that customs / import procedures in non-EU countries can sometimes add an extra week (or even two weeks) to the delivery times.
On request we can also ship with UPS for a faster delivery: expedited (within 10 days) or express (within a few days). There are no customs delays when shipping with UPS. Contact us before the purchase to get a quote.
How do you pack your items, will my item arrive safely?
Broken ceramics is a thing we do not like! Not only is it a waste of time and money, but it also (often) means the end for a rare and unique item, which was treasured and cared for by their previous owners. So we really want to avoid any damages during shipping!
We have lots of experience of shipping ceramics, and we have seen what works and what does not work to protect ceramics during transit. If we ship multiple items in one package, each item is carefully wrapped and kept well seperated from the other items. We use large boxes, with plenty of buffer all around the items, so the packages can withstand a lot of abuse. All our packages should be able to cope with a 1,5 m drop without the items getting damaged.
Do you take care of the environment?
Yes we do. We re-use packaging materials as much as possible, which means we rarely need to buy new materials for our packaging. Only foam peanuts are sometimes bought by us, in which case we prefer to use green starch based peanuts which are fully biodegradable, non-toxic and water-soluble.
Each year, we calculate the greenhouse gas emissions in CO2-equivalents caused by our shipping. We multiply that amount by 200% and then offset it in certified CO2 compensation projects based on tree planting / reforestation in various parts of the world. So far, we have offset 35,5 tonnes of CO2 emissions in projects in Bolivia and Borneo (Indonesia). See https://treesforall.nl/en/projects/ for more information on the projects.
How should I take care of my Dutch ceramics?
First of all, don't let them fall! Always handle them in a mindful way and put them in spots where they cannot be accidentally bumped over when cleaning or vacuuming. Some people put some (clean) sand in vases to make them more stable.
Second, don't clean them too often! Underglaze painted Gouda and Delftware can be perfectly cleaned with water if necessary, but often just dusting them off or polishing them up a bit with a soft dry cloth is enough. Overglaze painted items should not be cleaned too often.
The colours of ceramics do not fade in sunlight, so you can put them in bright spots where they look good. But do avoid large temperature differences, which will cause increased crazing in many Delftware and also Gouda type pieces.
Reviews (1)
Average:
Jul 16, 2020
The pair of vases are even more beautiful than the photo. Arjan immediately shipped and packed them well. Unfortunately the mail service was terrible. It took a long time to arrive through no fault of the seller. Due to mishandling in the mail, one vase was broken. Arjan offered a credit or applying the cost of the broken vase for another item. We chose to apply it to another item we loved. This time he will be using another shipper. I would definitely buy from this seller again.
Pam Stein