Monkey See

For five hundred years after Marco Polo brought an example of Chinese porcelain to Italy, no European knew how to make it. Its translucent quality could not be successfully imitated.
Delftware developed as an attempt to copy the Chinese porcelain. It is tin glazed, white earthenware, decorated with cobalt blue underglaze. When a clear glaze is added overall, it gives the piece a depth that is reminiscent of porcelain. Delft was home to an office of the Dutch East India Company, so inspiration abounded.

Delftware was made between the late seventeenth and early nineteenth centuries. Chinese designs were copied not only from originals but from printed travel books and papers. Designs also portrayed Dutch working life and rural scenes and architecture.