Gouda pottery clogs:
Clogs, all from different Gouda potteries.
From left to right and top to bottom:
Zenith, Iris, Goedewaagen, Regina, Eskaf, PZH (Plateel
Zuid-Holland), Ed Antheunius, Ivora end Arnhem.
A functional clog is a shoe made from wood, they were used in the
Netherlands by farmers and fisherman, as late as in the first half of the
last century.
The Gouda ceramic pottery clogs were mostly made for decoration. Some have
a factory made round hole in them, this allowed for the piece to be hung
on a wall. For that reason they are also called a wall pocket.
The PZH produced the biggest variety of clogs. The largest clog that I
have seen measures 25 cm long (Some from the Arnhem factory exist up to
33cm long!). The larger sized ones were used as small plant containers.
They came with an insert, so they could function as a small flowerpot for
a cactus or other small plant.
The picture below shows a collection of Gouda pottery clogs, made in the
early 1900's. Each clog below was made by a different producer, this
clearly shows factories just copied each others designs and ideas. You
will be hard pressed to find a pottery clog produced before 1898, but all
at once when the PZH production started up, many others followed suit. I
am not saying the PZH was the first one to ever produce a pottery clog,
but they certainly fueled a trend. Ceramic clogs made before 1898 are
virtually non existant.
In the early days the PZH produced the biggest assortment. From the 1960's
on wards ceramic clogs were produced in huge numbers mainly by Delftware
factories to exploit the then available export markets. Already in the
early days the PZH had identified the export potential of their product.
Hence the "Made in Holland" phrase was often added onto their pottery.
By the time the Gouda pottery production started to wind down the
Delftware industries took over They certainly became the biggest ever
ceramic clog producer.
The decors used are the same as those you find on other "Zuid
Holland" Gouda pottery.
