From 10 October 2026 to 29 August 2027, the Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics will present a major exhibition devoted to coffee. The Netherlands remains one of the world’s leading coffee-consuming countries. Coffee? A Dutch History in Ceramics explores the Netherlands’ role in the history of this popular beverage. Dozens of coffee pots, tap jugs, mugs and items of tableware take visitors on a journey through global trade and exchange.
The exhibition shows how coffee represents sociability, comfort and togetherness, but at the same time tells a story of exploitation, human suffering and unequal power relations. Ceramics, as a silent witness to this history, form the common thread. Highlights from the museum’s china cabinet will be brought out for the exhibition: from an 18th-century Japanese tap jug and examples of Dutch Design to an elegant Rococo coffee pot made of Delft earthenware. The objects reflect the exchanges between Asia, the MIddle East and Europe, and illustrate how the Netherlands became a true coffee-drinking nation, with a rich diversity of communities, rituals and traditions.
Partnership with the National Slavery Museum
The history of coffee in the Netherlands is multifaceted. In order to also give a voice to the often overlooked aspects of colonial coffee history, the Princessehof has partnered with the National Slavery Museum. The exhibition features, among other things, fine tableware once owned by plantation owners and artefacts recovered from shipwrecks, including coffee beans from the Dutch West India Company (WIC) ship ’t Hart. It also reveals how the harsh realities of plantation life were long concealed behind idealised images of tropical landscapes and smiling ‘workers’ on coffee services and packaging – imagery that continues to influence advertising today. The exhibition also reflects on the experiences of women, who played a crucial role not only in coffee cultivation but also in passing on language, knowledge and traditions, and in fighting for freedoms. These stories invite visitors to view their everyday cup of coffee in a different light.
This exhibition has been made possible in part through the support of the Municipality of Leeuwarden, the Culture Fund (including support from the Angela E. Fund and the Blauwe Baan Fund), the Cultuurfonds Stichting Parkeergarages, the Leeuwarder Ondernemersfonds, the Stichting Het Nieuwe Stadsweeshuis, the Stichting Old Burger Weeshuis, the Stichting Sint Anthony Gasthuis and the National Slavery Museum.
For this exhibition, the Princessehof is also collaborating with the Amsterdam Museum, Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam, Museum Joure and Centre Céramique.
Partners of the Princessehof: the Ottema-Kingma Foundation, the Friends of the Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics and Club Céramique.
The Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics is co-funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the Municipality of Leeuwarden.