Sweet little miniature vintage Delft bud vase with 'kissing' Dutch boy and girl figurines.
8 cm tall
 
Delft blue pottery (also known as Delft Blue or Delftware) is part of the Dutch national heritage.  It is the distinctive, white, tin-glazed ceramic pottery with blue decoration, traditionally produced in the city of Delft in The Netherlands.  Delft Blue pottery was first produced around 1600 to copy Chinese porcelain, brought in by Dutch merchant ships that returned from China. It became very popular quickly because Chinese porcelain was expensive - only the rich could afford it. It was impossible to copy Chinese porcelain exactly because the Chinese clay used to produce porcelain contained kaolin, which was not available to the Delft potters.
 
After 1759 the global market for Delft Blue decreased and virtually all of the 33 Delft Blue factories disappeared.Only a single Delft Blue factory, De Porceleyne Fles, is still producing Delft Blue pottery today.