Consuming the World: Dutch Consumer Culture and Delftware Pottery

     In recent years, scholars have gone back and forth as to the original location and rough time period in which consumer culture first evolved. Many scholars look to Josiah Wedgwood's creamware and Queen's ware as the... [ view full abstract ]

     In recent years, scholars have gone back and forth as to the original location and rough time period in which consumer culture first evolved. Many scholars look to Josiah Wedgwood's creamware and Queen's ware as the first recognizable brand. However, less important than who had the first consumer culture is how a consumer culture first evolved, and many of Josiah Wedgwood's advances (including his revolutionary techniques for mass production and his courting of wealthy clientele) can actually be seen in a much earlier form of pottery: Dutch delftware. This delftware drew on influences from far off lands and local courts, which would also influence English creamware. As such delftware can provide us with a unique window into Early Modern consumer culture, which was based on the trade of exotic goods and mass produced images, through printing and pottery.