Spoon Caddy (?)

The Guild of St Luke, to which painters in all media had to belong, admitted ten master potters in the thirty years between 1610 and 1640 and twenty in the nine years 1651 to 1660. In 1654 a gunpowder explosion in Delft destroyed many breweries and as the brewing industry was in decline they became available to pottery makers looking for larger premises; some retained the old brewery names, making them famous throughout northern Europe, e.g. The Double Tankard, The Young Moors' Head and The Three Bells.
The use of marl clay (earthenware high in lime) allowed the Dutch potters to refine their technique and to make finer items. The usual clay body of Delftware was a blend of three natural clays, one local, one from Tournai and one from the Rhineland.