"A decorative-arts adviser and specialist, Ms. Wheeler Brown found herself spellbound when asked to appraise a vast collection of Delftware unceremoniously stored in the Manhattan headquarters of a Gilded Age-era womens group. As important to the longevity of Delftware as its quality has been the appetite for collecting and commissioning it. Ms. Wheeler Brown delves into the roles women have had shaping, patronizing and protecting the pottery over the centuries. Beyond Blue and White taps into what every collector of antiques knows to be true: The decorative arts are more than mere objects where beauty meets functionthey are the tactile messengers of histories forgotten." -- The Wall Street Journal "When Brown is asked to review a large, private collection of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Delftware, she finds herself on a search for the stories of its creators and collectors. These are stories that go beyond descriptions of the pieces and their provenance. Instead, they are about the women who ran potteries and the women who acquired and assembled collections of the Delftware they made. Browns bibliography is extensive: She consulted archival collections, numerous histories, and scholarly articles. Museum- and academic-library collections will want to add this title, as will public libraries whose patrons include Delftware devotees." -- Booklist "A journey through history as delightful and intricate as the artform it follows. The author's hand tracing a path for us to follow, over the surface of a gleaming puzzle-jug and through the lives of the women who intersected with it." -- Naomi Novak, New York Times bestselling author of Uprooted and A Deadly Education A captivating history of Delftware and the extraordinary women who ran the potteries and collected the beautiful Dutch ceramics, as well as the innovative and inspiring women who created the arts institutions that would display Delftware to a broad audience. Framed in an engaging and quick paced personal narrative, Brown weaves a brilliant historical story. I highly recommend this book!" -- Leslie Banker, author of Think Like a Decorator Brown shows us that the story of blue and white is not black and white at all. This is a richly hued narrative filled with depth and surprises. Some of the best characters are the objects themselves, improbable Delftware survivorsdesired, dusted, coveted, ignorednow pointing us to a series of remarkable women fiercely devoted to the medium over centuries. -- Christine Coulson, author of Metropolitan Stories and One Woman Show A quest to uncover a New York fine arts mystery, told as if in the delicate northern light of a Vermeer painting. I loved it: I wont look at Dutch porcelain in the same way again, and I might not look at the Netherlands in the same way again either. -- Victoria Finlay, author of Fabric: The Hidden History of the Material World
