Enfilade

From the press release (9 July 2024). . .

The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) announces the acquisition of six new pieces including a Dutch tin-glazed earthenware vase produced by the Greek A Factory; a pen and ink drawing by Maarten van Heemskerck; and drawings by Maarten van Heemskerck, Fernand Léger, Gustave Moreau, Joseph Stella, and Sophie Taeuber-Arp.

Flower Pyramid, ca. 1690, Adrianus Kocx (Dutch, active 1686–1701), De Grieksche A (The Greek A) Factory (Dutch, active 1658–1811), tin-glazed earthenware, painted in blue, 95 cm (The Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2024.27).

A trademark of Dutch material culture, blue-and-white pottery had its heyday during the reign of William III and Mary II. Mary contributed to the international spread of the fashion for Delft ceramics. She commissioned pieces from the Greek A Factory—the most prestigious of 34 workshops and potteries active in Delft at the end of the 17th century. Among the most complex and luxurious forms made in Delft were flower pyramids, consisting of stacked tiers with spouts in which flowers were placed.

This piece represents a beautiful hexagonal type of pyramid and is marked by Adrianus Kocx, the owner of the Greek A Factory. It was likely produced for the English market—a desirable product for English aristocrats supporting the Dutch Stadtholder, later William III of England, and his wife Mary. It was acquired at TEFAF Maastricht from Aronson Delftware Antiquairs, Amsterdam.

Other acquisitions

• Maarten van Heemskerck, Jonah Cast Out by the Whale onto the Shore of Nineveh, 1566, pen and brown ink over indications in black chalk, within brown ink framing lines; indented for transfer, 20 × 25 cm.
• Gustave Moreau, The Good Samaritan, ca. 1865–70, watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper, 21 × 29 cm.
• Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Free Horizontal-Vertical Rhythms, 1919, gouache on paper, 30 × 22 cm.
• Fernand Léger, Still Life with Bottle, 1923, graphite on tan wove paper, 25 × 32 cm.
• Joseph Stella, Man Reading a Newspaper, 1918, charcoal and newspaper collage on modern laid paper, 39 × 40 cm.

The full press release is available here»