Delftware Floor Vase, Blue and White Chinoiserie by Plateelbakkerij RAM

Dutch Delft blue and white hand-painted Chinoiserie floor vase by Plateelbakkerij RAM, Arnhem — the ribbed body painted with flowering branches, birds, and insects, the neck rich with dense dark cobalt arabesques. Substantial in presence, this vase works in two strongly differentiated registers. The wide lobed body is divided by vertical ribbing into panels, each carrying a distinct botanical composition: flowering trees and shrubs with rocks and garden elements, rendered in the characteristic soft blue-on-white of the Dutch Delft tradition. Birds perch in the branches; bees and insects hover among the blossoms. The scenes draw directly from the Chinese Kangxi-period porcelain that Dutch potters have interpreted since the 17th century — the rock-and-flower groupings, the layered ground lines, the meandering naturalism all traceable to that source. The cylindrical neck shifts to a dramatically different register: a rich dark cobalt ground overlaid with botanical scrollwork, flowering branch reserves, and interlocking arabesques rendered in lighter blue. A pointed arch border marks the rim; a chevron-patterned transition zone at the shoulder separates the two treatments. The contrast — white ground below, dense cobalt above — gives the piece considerable visual weight and demonstrates the painter's confident range across both approaches. The flat base is marked with the handpainted ram's head device with "RAM / MADE IN HOLLAND, " the notation "Delfts Blauw." and model number 116 inscribed above, and the painter's initials H.L. Below. This form of the handpainted RAM mark is consistent with production after 1935. The initials H.L. May correspond to Herbertus Luppes, who joined RAM as chief painter in 1948 — if so, this piece dates to the post-1948 period, consistent with the mid-century dating that the mark and decorative approach suggest. In very good condition. No chips or cracks observed.