The Women Behind Delftware

Explore the female experience through the material culture of one of the most beloved and sought-after ceramics in the world. After discovering over seventy-five pieces of Delftware in a historic Manhattan townhouse, decorative art advisor and now author Genevieve Wheeler Brown began the journey of sharing the story of these incredible pieces of art. With illustrations of period objects, documents, maps, paintings, prints, and drawings, Beyond Blue and White is a colorful celebration of an iconic decorative art and dynamic women living in extraordinary times. Join author and distinguished decorative-arts advisor Genevieve Wheeler Brown and acclaimed ceramic artist Michelle Erickson for a lively, behind-the-scenes conversation inspired by Genevieve’s new book. In collaboration with Drayton Hall, we look forward to learning more about this fascinating story and the inspiration for their 2026 Preview Party Exhibit.

If you are unable to attend the event but would like to purchase one or more signed copies, please visit Buxton Books here!

About the Book

An absorbing work of cultural history that reveals the stories behind one of the world’s most coveted and beloved ceramics. When over seventy-five pieces of rare and intriguing 17th and 18th-century Delftware are rediscovered in a historic Manhattan townhouse, decorative art advisor and writer Genevieve Wheeler Brown quickly recognizes that, together, these pieces tell an amazing story. What begins as a curatorial exercise quickly evolves not only into an exploration of this colorful, expressive, and sometimes even humorous decorative art, coveted for hundreds of years, but also an unexpected uncovering of forceful female lives yet untold. Connecting the accounts of women across centuries, Beyond Blue and White allows us to craft a more complete picture of female experience through the lens of material culture. We meet female Delftware makers, including Barbara Rotteveel, founder of “The Three Bells” Delftware factory in 1671. We are introduced to female Delftware patrons such as Queen Mary II, who found her means of expression while creating a vogue in the 17th century for Delft blue and white across royal courts. And then there are the female collectors beginning in the 19th century who saw the artistry and craft in these ceramics that others had overlooked. Foremost among them was Mrs. J. Pierpont Morgan and Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt II, who came together with fellow New York women and laid the groundwork for women in the museum world while preserving decorative arts with an educational mission. Wheeler Brown’s rich narrative encourages us to see beyond the dazzling cobalt glaze of Delftware to consider that these vessels are also our connection to a history with a fascinating group of women at its center.

About the Author

As a decorative art advisor and writer with over thirty years in the art world, including a decade with Christie’s in New York and London, Genevieve Wheeler Brown has been actively involved in the community of Delftware. She has also participated in the Antiques Roadshow as an appraiser with an eye out for overlooked “treasure.” In her role, she has held innumerable objects, from fake Stradivari violins to gold-mounted Faberge eggs, considering their value but also the stories they can tell.

About Michelle Erickson

Michelle Erickson is a graduate of the College of William and Mary with a BFA in Fine and Performing Arts. An accomplished contemporary artist, Erickson is internationally recognized for both making and historical scholarship. Michelle is a leading figure in reconstructing historic ceramic technology. Her ceramic artworks explore issues of child slavery, social and cultural identity, racial inequity, and environmental geopolitics. Erickson has widely exhibited and published her artworks in private and major museum collections across the United States and Britain. Michelle’s practice in experimental archaeology has been incorporated into many exhibitions and programs; her scholarship concerning the discovery of colonial-era ceramic techniques is well documented in several volumes of the annual journal Ceramics In America, edited by Robert Hunter and published by the Chipstone Foundation. Michelle has produced ceramics for major motion pictures such as The Patriot, The Time Machine, and the HBO series John Adams. In 2012, Erickson was an artist in Residence at the Victoria Albert Museum in the category of World Class Maker. Her most recent solo exhibitions include Wild Porcelain at Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco’s Legion of Honor, 2021-2023. and Recasting Colonialism at the Baltimore Museum of Art, May- October 2023. Erickson’s depth of historical reference and technological virtuosity distinguish her unique career as an American artist working in clay.

Prior to the program, we invite our Fellows Members to enjoy Happy Hour from 5:00 – 6:00 pm, downstairs in the Dr. Suzan D. Boyd Fellows Club Lounge.