A charming vintage hand painted decorative lidded Delft pot with hand painted birds and flowers. It has the normal small chips associated with Delft being just a thin tin glaze. Painters work the traditional decorations by hand with black paint containing cobalt oxide. The firing process changes the colour to blue. Being water based, painters can create various blue shades by adding water. The use of glaze containing the element tin is one of the most important features of Dutch delftware. Covering the entire object with this glaze, which becomes white on firing, allowed Delft potters to emulate Chinese porcelain as closely as possible.