De Distel - Bert Nienhuis - Inkwell - Ceramic

Rare Amsterdam School inkpot with underplate - Plateelbakkerij De Distel (Bert Nienhuis) - ca. 1910

Hand-painted, matte-glazed earthenware with geometric decoration. Early Dutch art pottery.

A particularly beautiful and extremely rare ceramic inkpot (with lid and glass inkwell) on a square underplate, produced by the renowned Plateelbakkerij De Distel from Amsterdam (active until 1923).
This object is an iconic example of innovative Dutch art pottery from the early Amsterdam School and Art Deco period (ca. 1910). The design breathes the minimalist and geometric style of Bert Nienhuis, who at the time served as artistic director and transformed the factory.

Features and decoration:
The inkwell set is rendered in the characteristic matte white glaze for which De Distel is renowned worldwide. The pot is hand-painted all around with a clean, rhythmic pattern of deep dark green triangles (copper/oxide) and subtle reddish-brown accents (iron oxide). The square underplate seamlessly complements it and features raised corners with notches, originally intended to rest the writing pen.

This particular model belongs to an exclusive early series of souvenir ware that Plateelbakkerij De Distel produced around 1910 for the emerging luxury tourism in the Valkenburg fortress town in Limburg. Instead of the then-common kitschy bric-a-brac, De Distel chose to execute this travel souvenir as a high-quality design object. The clean, geometric pattern by Bert Nienhuis is here combined with the hand-painted coat of arms of Valkenburg.