WLANL - MicheleLovesArt - Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen - Tulpenvaas

A tulip vase, or pyramid vase, is a

vase A vase ( or ) is an open container. It can be made from a number of materials, such as ceramics, glass, non-rusting metals, such as aluminium, brass, bronze, or stainless steel. Even wood has been used to make vases, either by using tree species ...

designed to put

cut flowers Cut flowers are flowers or flower buds (often with some stem and leaf) that have been cut from the plant bearing it. It is usually removed from the plant for decorative use. Typical uses are in vase displays, wreaths and garlands. Many gardene ...

and especially

tulips Tulips (''Tulipa'') are a genus of spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes (having bulbs as storage organs). The flowers are usually large, showy and brightly coloured, generally red, pink, yellow, or white (usually in warm ...

in, but it primarily serves as a decorative showpiece. They were first made in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in the 17th century and were decorated with ''Delfts blauw'' or Chinese decoration. Replicas of the original tulip vases were made in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and were imported by the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

History and origin

The tulip vase is a form of

Delftware Delftware or Delft pottery, also known as Delft Blue ( nl, Delfts blauw) or as delf, is a general term now used for Dutch tin-glazed earthenware, a form of faience. Most of it is blue and white pottery, and the city of Delft in the Netherland ...

faience known for its specific blue colour which is used to decorate the

earthenware Earthenware is glazed or unglazed nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids by coating it with a ce ...

. Delftware originated from the attempt to imitate

Chinese porcelain Chinese ceramics show a continuous development since pre-dynastic times and are one of the most significant forms of Chinese art and ceramics globally. The first pottery was made during the Palaeolithic era. Chinese ceramics range from construc ...

; the Dutch potters tried to copy it, but they did not succeed. The stackable tulip vases were made like that because the potters weren't able to make the vase out of one piece around 1700; it would collapse while firing it. Tulips were introduced in the Netherlands at the end of the 16th century; the bulbs came from

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

and became a very expensive, fashionable flower. To this day tulips are very popular flowers. Sometimes the pyramid vases, some perhaps inspired by the

porcelain tower of Nanjing The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing, part of the former Great Bao'en Temple, is a historical site located on the south bank of external Qinhuai River in Nanjing, China. It was a pagoda constructed in the 15th century during the Ming dynasty, but was m ...

, were not used as flower vases at all, just as showpieces.

Designs

Tulip vases can be round, square or oval and they are made in different sizes; the big ones have multiple floors and consist of loose stackable watertight elements and can be up to more than 1.5 metres high. At every level of the vase, one can insert flowers in the appropriate spouts around the vase. The big tulip vases were used to decorate the

hearth A hearth () is the place in a home where a fire is or was traditionally kept for home heating and for cooking, usually constituted by at least a horizontal hearthstone and often enclosed to varying degrees by any combination of reredos (a lo ...

during the summer and the smaller vases would be placed on the table on a festive occasion.

External links

History of Delftware

Rijksmuseum - Pyramid vase

Rijksmuseum - Pots with spouts

Rijksmuseum - Stacked

Rijksmuseum - Delftware
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tulip Vase Pottery shapes Delftware Floristry

History and origin

Designs

See also

External links