October 25th, 2025
On Saturday October 25th, decorative art advisor Genevieve Wheeler Brown gave a lecture about her new book BEYOND BLUE AND WHITE: The Hidden History of Delftware and the Women Behind the Iconic Ceramic.
The exclusive event took place at the Lotos Club, which was also be the venue for the Holland Society’s 135th Dinner Dance later that evening.
A longtime New Yorker and former Christie’s specialist, Genevieve Brown reveals the hidden story of a Dutch Delftware collection tucked away for decades in a Gilded Age women’s club on the Upper East Side. Her book explores how women—from 17th-century Dutch pottery owners to 20th-century collectors—shaped the history of blue-and-white ceramics.
Set against the backdrop of New York’s cultural evolution, BEYOND BLUE AND WHITE traces the influence of pioneering women such as Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt and her daughter Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, whose collecting shaped tastes and institutions. The author also weaves in stories from the Bronx’s colonial past to the founding of New York’s great museums, spotlighting the critical yet often overlooked role women played as curators, patrons, and preservationists.
Through the book, 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 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.
A virtual option was available as well for those that weren’t in town for the Dinner Dance. To watch the recording, please click here.
Autographed copies of the book are available for sale via this link.
