THE HAGUE.- The history of Dutch delftware is now the source of inspiration for a wonderful new children’s art book: A Vase for the Princess is a highly attractive and entertaining picture book about two little mice. Dutch town mouse Titus and Chinese mouse Lin make friends and find themselves visiting a seventeenth-century Delft pottery. The book’s illustrations are by internationally renowned, prize-winning illustrators Ingrid and Dieter Schubert. A Vase for the Princess is the eighth in the series of children’s art books currently being publishing by the Gemeentemuseum in collaboration with Uitgeverij Leopold.

The book tells how Chinese mouse Lin arrives in Holland on board a vessel of the Dutch East India Company. Town mouse Titus befriends him and together they visit Delft, where they find themselves in a pottery tasked with producing the finest vase there ever was for the Dutch princess… This charming children’s art book with its wonderful illustrations will appeal enormously to children’s imaginations. The endearing little mice will take readers back in time and offer them an inside view of the Delft pottery industry of the seventeenth century. The Dutch-language version (entitled Een vaas voor de prinses) is on sale in the Gemeentemuseum’s own shop and in all good bookshops, while the limited English-language edition is available exclusively from the museum shop.

DelftWare WonderWare
A Vase for the Princess has been published to accompany a new DelftWare WonderWare exhibition at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. This new permanent display in the museum’s period rooms presents the enthralling history of four centuries of Dutch delftware. Despite its importance as part of the nation’s cultural heritage and as a symbol of Dutch prosperity in the country’s seventeenth-century Golden Age, few of these ceramics are ever on show in Dutch museums. The new exhibition at the Gemeentemuseum is designed to remedy this.

Original illustrations
The original illustrations for the book are being presented as part of DelftWare WonderWare, making a visit to the exhibition a perfect outing for the whole family. In addition, a special ‘Mouse Day’ with free activities for children will be held at the Gemeentemuseum on Saturday 29 December. Kids will be able to listen to Ingrid and Dieter Schubert reading from their book (in Dutch only), have their faces painted like mouse Lin, and let their imaginations rip during creative activities in the children’s workshop. Places can be reserved via muizen@gemeentemuseum.nl. From the start of the Christmas holiday period, ticket-holders can also pick up a free (Dutch- or English-language) booklet of kid’s games and drawing assignments and a free colouring sheet from the museum information desk.