32. Rare pair of Delft earthenware openwork baskets, Netherlands, circa 1740-50 A rare pair of Dutch Delftware pierced baskets, circa 1740-50 Each with an elaborate central scene of a basket containing fruit standing on a baroque table, surrounded by insects and butterflies, the sides pierced and picked out in blue, the handles moulded as interlocking dolphins, 26.5cm diam, IB for Justus Brouwer, owner of De Porceleyne Byl, 1739-1775 (all four handles restored, some overpainting and filling of chips to the edge) (2) Provenance: With Aronson Antiquairs, Amsterdam, where purchased by the present owner Although there are other baskets with related decoration, this appears to be a very rare shape not recorded at any of the major Dutch museums. Other baskets, in parts with pierced recesses to hold flowers, have been found in excavations around the Royal Palace of Het Loo in the Netherlands, linking the production directly to the end of the 17th century during the reign of William and Mary. They were first published A.M.L.E. Erkelens, 'Delffs Porcelijn' van Koningin Mary II, Ceramiek op Het Loo uit de tijd van Willem III and Mary II (1996), pp.60 ff., cat. no. 2. and subsequently by S. Lambooy (et.al.) Koningklijk Blauw (2020), p.65ff., cat.nos. 52a-b and 53 a-b. The typology of a 'flower basket' again appear in decoration schemes on Delftware itself, such as the present baskets with their large baroque piètements mounted with baskets filled richly with flowers. Another example of a polychrome decoration of a basket with elaborate bouquet in the manner of the Dutch Old Master Willem van Aelst was sold at Bonhams, The Collection of Paulus van Pauwvliet, 21 November 2023, lot 103.