Information
The Dutch Tile Museum was founded in 1961 by the architect Gerrit Feenstra (1890–1985), who sought to create a representative historical overview of Dutch ceramic wall tiles. This collection initially focused on tiles painted in tin glaze, a technique that was introduced into Antwerp from Italy in the sixteenth century and then spread to Holland and Friesland mainly in the seventeenth century. This part of the collection, comprising about 5,000 numbered objects, was later expanded, most notably with the loan from the art teacher and publicist Dingeman Korf and the donation of the M.F.M. Manschot-van der Meij collection. In the period before 1750, it comprises the entire known spectrum of ornamental patterns and figurative scenes, such as flowers, birds, soldiers, ships, and sea creatures, and later also Biblical stories and pastoral scenes. Most of these images are based on catchpenny prints.
The most striking examples include the double tulip tile from Hoorn, Gouda nail tiles, a Pandect tile (a case from Roman law) from Harlingen, and an early, dated Biblical scene (1659) after Leonaert Bramer. The collection includes items from virtually all known production centers in the Netherlands.
Another section consists of approximately 350 hearthstones (produced mainly in the Antwerp and Liège regions) dating from the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, and Dutch floor tiles with inlaid decorations.
Johan Kamermans, Curator (December 2023)